August 25, 2011 – In 2005 Alexander Krombach bought 5 coins on eBay. So he became one of 338 German coin collectors, who were accused of fencing, because the objects they bought at eBay had no “certificate” giving a proof of origin. In December 2008 Mr Krombach’s house was searched and his whole collection, comprising 821 coins, seized for evidence. February 12th, 2009 the prosecution closed the preliminary proceedings, but the coins had not been returned.
The Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts, issued a directive for the 821 coins to be seized for averting of a danger according to § 40 HSOG with the aim of preventing receiving stolen goods. May 6th, 2010 the administrative court Gießen delivered a verdict in Mr Krombach’s favor. Nevertheless the Hessian Ministry did not restitute the collection but appealed the next instance. Now a final verdict has been spoken: on Friday 19th August, 2011 the collection has been restituted to its legal owner finally.
CoinsWeekly has reported continually about this case. Read a full chronicle and other articles on this topic.
Coin collecting in Hesse.
On the court’s decision that in Germany no proof of origin is necessary to sell and buy coins read this article.