US closes border for ancient Cypriot coins

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Coins do not come with a certificate of origin, so this means that any ancient Cypriot coin imported in the US can be impounded by US customs and lost without compensation for the owner.

Source: New York Times

Peter

U.S. Imposes Restrictions on Importing Cypriot Coins
By JEREMY KAHN Published: July 18, 2007

WASHINGTON, July 17 ? In a move that some coin collectors fear could eventually make it difficult to pursue their passion, the United States government has imposed import restrictions on ancient coins from Cyprus. It is the first time the United States has limited trade in a broad category of coins as part of an effort to guard the cultural heritage of another country.

The new rules, which were adopted last week and went into effect on Monday, would essentially bar the importation of any ancient coin from Cyprus unless authorized by the Cypriot government. The limits are part of a broader agreement between the United States and the Republic of Cyprus to extend for five years existing restrictions on the import of pre-classical, classical and Byzantine art and artifacts from the island.

The new rule is only the latest development in a debate involving archaeologists, collectors and art dealers over how best to preserve antiquities and encourage appreciation of the past.

Cyprus has said the restrictions are necessary to combat the looting of cultural and archaeological sites, particularly in the northern part of the island, which has been divided from the south since Turkey invaded in 1974.

Archaeologists frequently use coins to help them date ancient sites; they say that treasure hunters using metal detectors to look for coins often wreck potentially important archaeological discoveries.

?We are very pleased coins have been added to this,? said Cyprus?s ambassador to Washington, Andreas Kakouris. ?Coins constitute an inseparable part of our own cultural heritage, and the pillage they are subjected to is the same as other archaeological material.?

Numismatic associations had argued before a State Department advisory committee that import restrictions on ancient coins could not fairly be enforced. Coins minted in Cyprus were found throughout the ancient world, the collectors asserted. They said it would be impossible for customs officials to determine whether a coin came from Cyprus or elsewhere and whether it had been legitimately excavated.

Coins do not customarily carry the kinds of provenance documents that accompany other art and antiquities.

The collectors also expressed concern that the agreement would encourage other countries, including Italy, home to troves of Roman-era coins, to ask for similar restrictions. If such limits ?were applied to Italy, for example, that could be quite devastating to numismatists, particularly ancient-coin collectors,? said Jay Beeton, a spokesman for the American Numismatic Association.

The Archaeological Institute of America, which wrote to the State Department in support of Cyprus?s request for new import restrictions, disputes that there was widespread dissemination in centuries past of Cypriot currency.

?Coins minted on Cyprus were very rarely taken from the island in antiquity,? the association?s president, C. Brian Rose, wrote in a February letter to the State Department?s Cultural Property Advisory Committee. ?If one examines the discoveries at officially sanctioned excavations in the countries that surround Cyprus, such as Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and even Israel, one can see how infrequently Cypriot coins figure among the finds.?

But the coin collectors said they saw little reason for the State Department, which had exempted coins from previous import bans on antiquities, to suddenly reverse course.

?This decision shows that the Department of State is putting the narrow interests of the cultural bureaucracies of foreign states and the archaeological community over those of ordinary Americans who believe that collecting increases appreciation of the past and helps preserve artifacts,? said Peter K. Tompa, a lawyer who has represented numismatic groups before the Cultural Property Advisory Committee.

A State Department spokeswoman, who under the department?s rules could not be identified by name, defended the government?s decision to include coins, saying they were a key component of the ?pre-classical and classical archaeological heritage of Cyprus that is subject to pillage from context and to illicit trafficking.?

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FOIA suit filed against DOS
by Wayne G. Sayles ? last modified 2007-11-15 10:25
The ACCG is joined by IAPN and PNG in a complaint filed against the U.S. State Department

The Ancient Coin Collectors Guild (ACCG), an advocacy group for private collectors and independent scholars, has announced the filing on November 15, 2007 of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U. S. State Department. According to Wayne G. Sayles, executive director of the guild, this action became unavoidable due to ?persistent refusal of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) to provide the guild and others with information relating to requests for import restrictions.?  The State Department recently imposed unprecedented import restrictions on ancient coins from Cyprus?requiring importers of even a single common coin of ?Cypriot type? to provide unfair, unworkable and unnecessary documentation.

The ACCG formally asked the State Department under FOIA for information relating to requests from Cyprus, China and Italy because, in each case, apparent irregularities in the way these requests were received and managed had caused significant concerns.  Members of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives also requested similar information on behalf of the ACCG and others.  ?None of these avenues produced responsive replies? said Peter K. Tompa, ACCG president.  ?The reason for this lawsuit is that the State Department has refused to provide meaningful information.  We seek transparency and fairness of the process by which decisions affecting the American people are made.?  The ACCG, joined in this suit by the International Association of Professional Numismatists and the Professional Numismatists Guild, is represented by Washington DC attorney Scott A. Hodes.  Mr. Hodes is a former FOIA and Privacy Act attorney for the Department of Justice and the FBI.

The imposition of import restrictions is a remedy made available to the State Department by the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA) enacted in 1983.  This law, while providing emergency protection for endangered cultural property, includes a detailed and comprehensive series of safeguards to limit overreaching implementation of the 1970 UNESCO accord that it is based on.  The fair and equitable application of this law is viewed by the coin collector community and associated trade as essential to achieving any measure of protection on a broad and continuing scale.  The ACCG argues that fairness and equity can only be satisfied by a system that is transparent and subject to oversight.  It is hoped that this lawsuit will help encourage the State Department to revamp its procedures to ensure the fundamental fairness to all that the law demands.

Source: ACCG

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How many Customs officers would recognise an ancient Cypriot coin if they saw one, I wonder?  Methinks the law would be very simple for individuals to circumvent by simply putting at-risk coins in 2x2 with a label marking them as being from a different part of the ancient world. There are enough ancient coins that are mis-identified despite the best efforts of owners and scholars anyway, so there would be a convenient excuse there :-)

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Quite true, Martin, but don't forget the US claims culture. If you'd import a coin that way and at some day it's put up in auction, it may be seized ("prove to me you had this coin before 2007"). The auction house and the seller will then trace back the history of ownership to the importer and try for a millions of dollars damage claim against the importer ("your honor, I was so shocked by the policemen coming in I spilled hot coffee over my fingers. Doctors say I won't be able to work for the rest of my life"). In other words, even if it's a common coin, you strung up Damocles's sword over your own head, because at any time, it may turn out to attract attention.

You could have the coin imported by an organized crime clan, though. You'd pay a premium to certain shadowy characters, who the law would be unable to retrace. That's always the risk of prohibition: you are creating possibilities for rackets that didn't exist before.

Peter

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I think that in this case Cyprus and Americans may have come up with a good law.
Cyprus was indeed very isolated when it comes to its coinage, almost no coins went out of the Island.
Therefore a coin mint in cyprus would be for 95% ( or even more ) be only found in Cyprus.
If there is a lot of looting and destruction or archeological sites such a law would be correct.
A costums officer would never recognise one but the owner would not be able to sell either.
As for other coins like Roman or even ancient greek, such a rule would be completely wrong. Roman coins travelled far into India and coins minted in Rome went into countries with no mint of their own like for instance The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal, Tunisia, Marocco just to name a few.
Thier provenance would be a nightmare. The only solution to this, is good monitoring of archeological sites.
I do have a coin from Cyprus... so I now know, where not to sell it.

LP

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This thread is also relevant in this discusion.

Peter

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Attention! Going into hyperventilation mode.

Peter

Sale of Old Coins Irks Archaeologists

GAINESVILLE, Mo., Aug. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- "Some archaeologists are piqued that genuine ancient coins are being sold in a benefit auction to preserve collectors rights," says Wayne G. Sayles, executive director of the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild ( http://www.accg.us ). In a recent post online, one archaeologist likened the private collecting of ancient coins to the slaughter of African elephants. This wildly radical view pits archaeology directly against a venerable 600-year-old tradition of private scholars and museums throughout the world, according to Sayles. Objects as plentiful as coins, surviving in the millions of specimens, can hardly be treated as priceless treasures to be preserved only by state agencies and institutions. Collectors argue that they are far better stewards and preservationists than most institutions, and are sometimes better scholars.

The ACCG, a numismatic advocacy group, is currently selling ancient coins donated by its members to fund a legal challenge of recent U.S. State Department (DOS) sanctions that they say were applied contrary to law and threaten their hobby. The benefit sale, closing on August 17, is being held at the online venue http://www.vauctions.com .

In July of 2007, DOS imposed import restrictions, reportedly against the advice of its own advisory committee, on coins produced in Cyprus during antiquity. The ACCG ( http://accg.us ) contests these restrictions and may challenge the actions of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in federal court. The guild already has the bureau in court over Freedom of Information Act issues.

Within a 1970 UNESCO resolution, coins join a long list of innocuous objects classified as cultural property. The list includes postage stamps, old books, property relating to the lives of national leaders, thinkers, scientists and artists, pictures, paintings, furniture or musical instruments, and many other objects more than 100 years old. The resolution proposes to control the transfer of these objects between nations through government-imposed regulations and restrictions. In spite of anti-collector efforts, the private collecting of coins from antiquity remains legal in virtually all of the UNESCO signatory states (though many states have various export restrictions). American coin collectors, who view personal property rights as a fundamental aspect of their citizenship, seek to affirm their rights legally in the face of what they see as overreaching regulation on the part of the U.S. government.

This release was issued through The Xpress Press News Service, merging e-mail and satellite distribution technologies to reach business analysts and media outlets worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.xpresspress.com
SOURCE Ancient Coin Collectors Guild

Source: The Earth Times