Ethics
All members of the BNTA must agree to the Association's Code of Ethics, which is as follows:
A breach of the following shall be considered as prejudicial to the reputation of the Association and cause for action by the Council.
Excerpt:-

• I agree to be bound by and support the Articles of the Association and any further such Articles and policies as may be agreed by the Association.
• I agree to conduct my business in such a way as to bring no discredit on the Association or its Members and to take suitable action through the Association against flagrant breach of such business conduct.
• I agree to maintain adequate records of purchases so that any enquiries from proper authorities can be satisfied.
• I agree never knowingly to offer, exhibit or advertise counterfeits, copies, restrikes or reproductions without their being clearly described as such. In no way will I knowingly represent such items as being the genuine article.
• I agree to conform to accepted standards of advertising within the meaning of the Trade Descriptions Act.

Ethical Failures by BNTA Members

• Allgold Coins - Clive King
  Allgold, PO BOX 260, Wallington, Surrey, SM5 4AH
  Used our high quality copyright images of gold proof Britannias for their eBay listing.
  As we have given notice to King of imminent legal action, we have temporarily disabled this link on legal advice. Watch this space.
• Mark Rasmussen
  Ex-director of Spink & Son broke customer confidentiality, despite advertised "Confidentially Assured" claim.
  Mark was at one time the Chairman of the BNTA Council.
• GB Gold Coins - M.J. Hughes m-j-hughes-investments-2006 (gbgoldcoins.co.uk)
  Used at least three lots of our high quality copyright images to sell modern proof gold coin sets on eBay in competition with us.
  We notice with surprise that Hughes is now a BNTA member (as at January 2010). Apart from the above indiscretion, we understand that Hughes is not VAT registered, yet the BNTA "History" page states that members must be VAT registered. A curious inconsistency!
  
• Lockdale Coins
  Lockdales Coins and Collectables
  D J Daley, 37 Upper Orwell Street, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4 1HP
  Used at least one of our images in an eBay auction.
• North Wales Coins Limited
  R E Evans, 1b Penrhyn Road, Colwyn Bay, North Wales, LL29 8LG
  It's a very long time ago, (about 1965) but this person failed to pay us for a quantity (from memory 50) of gold sovereigns. When we eventually resorted to legal action for recovery of the debt, he used the defence that we had supplied him with more than two coins of one date, and that, because of the Exchange Control Act of 1947, our deal was "tainted with illegality" and we could not recover the debt.
  We were not amused, and considered this to be very sharp practice. From that day, we have never dealt with Evans, and do not intend to do so in the future.
• thelondoncoincompany The London Coin Company Selling Replica Sovereigns on eBay as Restrikes
  eBay member thelondoncoincompany was offering an imitation sovereign misleadingly described as a restrike. They (he?) are not the only one, eBay tends to be stuffed full of mis-described, mis-categorised, and over-hyped items offered by a myriad of dodgy dealers, some of whom should know better.
  This is not the first indiscretion by Ingram Liberman aka The London Coin Company. On a number of occasion during 2006 and 2007, Ingram Liberman used our copyright coin photographs .
• Richard Lubbock
  Although now an ex-member, it appears Richard, who inherited his business from his father Reg, has moved into the big league as a alleged methamphetamine dealer, the biggest in the UK.
• Bob Ilsley of Dolphin Coins
  Also an ex-member. We still don't quite know what happened to Dolphin Coins.
• Patrick Deane
  Ex-member, had a small problem with being in possession of coin making dies, to which the Royal Mint took an objection.
• David Bark
  David Bark is another ex BNTA member. He was convicted of VAT fraud some years ago. Strangely, he was the only person convicted, having pleaded guilty at an early stage. All the other defendants were acquitted when the case against them was thrown out because Customs & Excise was deemed to have withheld material evidence.

Complete List of BNTA Code of Conduct

Fred Eder - BNTA Early Warning Report Failure We reported the Fred Eder incident to the BNTA (British Numismatic Trade Association), asking them to add this to their next "Early Warning Report" to members. They declined to do so, stating that naming him might be considered as defamatory. At the time, we thought this was weak and toothless of them, a view which has only intensified over time.

Further Information If you would like to order the next edition of the BNTA Membership directory, please contact the General Secretary enclosing a first class stamp.

BNTA British Numismatic Trade Association
Mrs Carol Carter, General Secretary
PO Box 474A, Thames Ditton, Surrey, DT7 0WJ
Tel: 0181 398 4290 Fax: 0181 398 4291
e-mail:bnta@lineone.com