This thread hit me personally, as it relates to Roma and Mr. Beale and the current happenings are a blown up carbon copy of the problems I have had with Roma in the past. I wish this wasnt my first comment, but alas, I just could not resist.
I think there are several common misconceptions here:
1) That this case "came out of nowhere"
2) That Roma "came out of nowhere", and Mr. Beale established himself with his own merits and superior acumen
3) That other auctions are/were "jealous" of Beale's success and lack of pedigree regarding coin collecting - and this is revenge of the giants against an upstart
This case (fraud/falsified provenance) did not come out of nowhere. This was the result of many issues Roma has had in the past, some of which I have had the misfortune to experience personally.
I LOVED Roma. It was my go to for Greek and Roman coins, and IMO, had better selections than CNG and Gorny & Mosch, my two other go-to's for this hobby. I capitalized 'love' because, well, I probably spent well over $1 to 2 million just at Roma in 4 years. Where it all went wrong was in 2020, when, a friend of mine who is an expert (professor of archaeology) visited and noted a few strange things related to two of my coins from Roma. Not to get into the details, one was a coin that was tampered with (but not disclosed at auction - specifically drilled and re-filled), and the other was not from the collection it said it was from, in fact it most certainly was 'stolen' or illegally shipped as my friend was able to track down exactly where it came from, and why it should never have been for sale, let alone sold from the UK.
To make a very long story short, I confronted Beale mildly - really, all I wanted was for the description of the lot to change to reflect the findings: for the 'provenance' to be removed and for the tampering to be noted. I cared not for any refund or monetary reimbursement as I collect to collect, not to sell. Ive never sold a single coin in my life, not even those I inherited and have no desire to collect. To make several boring passive aggressive emails between Beale and I short, I was banned from Roma for bringing this up.
Well, as it happened, being banned from Roma unwittingly put me in contact with a few others over the last few years that had similar issues. I became aware the Roma was certainly and obviously in the cross hairs of various antiquity watchdogs for being a regular at this, and also, for doing dubious things like claiming certain coins are rare 'hybrid' or transitional issues when in fact they are not.
Which leads me to my next contention of the point that Beale "came out of nowhere" and had no money or inheritance or pedigree or connections, and built up Roma on his own merit. Simply put, there is no way anyone can open an auction house without 1 of 2 things: serious money, or serious connections. I would assume Mr. Beale most likely belongs to the 2nd category - serious connections - and this is what allowed him to establish Roma and offer coins of the highest quality, even in its earlier days (2010 onward). Those serious connections are funnily enough, most likely what has ended up ruining his career, as he undoubtedly became emboldened enough to fake a provenance on an extremely rare and expensive coin that would undoubtedly be scrutinized at every angle for years to come. And these connections certainly don't sprout out of nowhere.
Beale seems to be the sort of perfect front man for more dubious characters in this business: he's ex-army, has no history, is passionate and charismatic and understood that much of selling coins above estimate is in the photography and presentation. In addition, he was new to the game, and most likely offered much better returns than well established auction houses that could use their brand to beat smaller collectors and dealers into giving up larger %. I think this is where it is obvious to say Beale did not come out of nowhere - he was backed by some serious dealers and collectors in the UK and EU, and if I can make the analogy, like Obama rose through the ranks to become POTUS seemingly out of nowhere, but anyone whose even remotely studies the subject can find that he had some serious billionaires (in this case, Soros) that allowed him to take to the higher stage.
It would seem a bit odd then that the scrutiny of a new and increasingly popular auction house is simply due to competition pulling strings. I think I can safely say that most collectors in general are at odds with authorities, and though there is a revolving door between agencies, universities, collectors, auction houses, etc. I dont think it is at the point of massive conspiracy. After all, the general 'fake provenance' tactics by old auction houses is listed in vague terms. When I see "Purchased from a private collection in southern Germany", I assume that this can be equally true or false, and that the auction house can also either be 'in the know' or not about the actual provenance of the coin.
This is leagues apart, though, from stating something like "Came from Henry XIII's collection" whilst knowing the exact origin of the coin. To make matters worse, it is also fairly incomprehensible to fake provenance on the highlighted auction lot, especially one that is sure to draw hundreds of thousands to millions. At this point, one has to understand, you're essentially destroying the top end of your business. Agencies could care less about someone selling an Antoninianus radiate with dubious origin for $200 with a fake provenance, but a $1 million coin? Not that Beale is alone in this, of course not. We've seen auction houses trying to sell (and sometimes even succeeding) in selling fakes of ancients in the $1 million range, let alone fake provenances.
But this does tarnish the reputation of Roma, especially among collectors of the top end category, and I cant say I feel any remorse for Beale. He has shown himself to be exactly of the same mold as many many others in this business, and those defending him - why? Why defend someone making money off half-truths and fraud? Beale is not, like many others in the business, an academic whose work precedes his reputation. All he had was his reputation, and he has currently lost a massive amount of it.
