Professional Numismatist Publishes Lord Renfrew's Coin Collection

Lord Renfrew, a vocal critic of the antiquities trade, has graciously allowed his collection of Etruscan coins to be published in Italo Vecchi�s impressive new corpus. The work publishes thousands of specimens from private and public collections and includes many coins that cannot be traced back to the 1970 date favored by archaeologists and some museums.

In supporting this endeavor, Lord Renfrew has demonstrated a commitment to scholarship shared by many collectors and,  indeed, professional numismatists like Italo Vecchi.

Richard Doty, Smithsonian Curator and Collector, Passes Away

Coins Weekly has reported on the passing of Richard Doty, the senior numismatic curator at the Smithsonian Institution.  The well-deserved tributes will focus on Dr. Doty's scholarship, but I also think it's worth noting that Dr. Doty was also a fixture at coin shows in the Washington, D.C. area.  Like his predecessor, Elvira Clain-Stefanelli, Dr. Doty was both a scholar and a collector. I'm sure he will be much missed.

Cultural Heritage Center Website Updated

The Cultural Heritage Center's website has been spiffed up with pictures, including one of Hillary Clinton gazing at a Greek statute.  Unfortunately, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs' tag line "promoting mutual understanding" rings hollow for ancient coin collectors at least.  Indeed, ECA's controversial import restrictions on millions of ancient Greek, Roman and Chinese coins of the sort avidly collected world-wide has, if anything, greatly harmed people to people contacts between collectors in the US and foreign countries.  Why not promote ancient coin collecting, and the cultural understanding it fosters (at no cost to the U.S. taxpayer), rather than seek to suppress it to the benefit of no one but a small number of academic archaeologists and their patrons in foreign cultural bureaucracies?

Romney Picks Ancient Coin Collector Supporter as VP Choice

Mitt Romney has picked Congressman Paul Ryan as his VP Choice.   Congressman Ryan's office took the lead on a letter to the State Department that expressed concerns about the Italian MOU.  However, it's also worth noting that the letter was a bipartisan one, and the concerns expressed by coin collectors on how State and Customs have abused their statutory authority are non-partisan as well.

ANS Recaptures Part of HSA Collection

Lee Rosenbaum (aka "Culture Grrl") reports the welcome news that a generous donor has agreed to return some 10,000 coins from the Hispanic Society of America collection back to the American Numismatic Society, where they resided for so many years.

Update (6-20-12):  The New York times has now reported on the generous contribution as well. 

Snobbery

Does snobbery help motivate the archaeological community�s support for clamp downs on collecting? One might conclude �yes,� based on this: http://paul-barford.blogspot.com/2012/05/what-they-collect.html

I�ve had the pleasure of being both a Trustee of the American Numismatic Society and the head of a local ancient coin club, the Ancient Numismatic Society of Washington, DC. Both have done excellent work fostering the appreciation and study of ancient coins. The work of the ANS is unparalleled. But the work of individual collectors has been important too. For example, members of the ANSWDC have written books that have ranged from the major work on Seleucid coins to another on an understudied area in Roman numismatics.

Now, more information is being placed on the Internet. Alfredo De La Fe should be commended for his new contribution. To mock it instead only betrays the academic snobbery behind the archaeological community�s opposition to collectors and collecting.

No Shipment to the USA

One of the major Swiss coin auction houses has announced that it will no longer ship ancient coins to the USA, due to the growing list of import restrictions (and presumably recent problems importers have had with US Customs with regard to unrestricted ancient coins).

Here is the communication that has been sent by Sincona (formerly the numismatic arm of UBS) to US bidders:

Dear Mr. xxx

We would like to thank you very much for your bids.

Due to specific US customs regulations, Sincona is no longer shipping ancient coins into the USA!

Either you can personally pick up your auction lots at our office in Zurich (or having someone to do so on your behalf) or you have to provide us with a mailing address within the European Community, where we can send your purchase. If we do not receive your respective directives within 48 hours before the sale, we are sorry but cannot accept your bids for ancient coins!

Thank you for your understanding.

Elements within the AIA, the archaeological blogosphere, and cultural bureaucracies here and abroad will no doubt [at least secretly] applaud such developments.  On the other hand, others may now conclude that any speculative benefit import restrictions may have on the protection of archaeological sites is far outweighed by the direct,  negative consequences they undoubtedly also have on US small businesses, collectors, and ultimately the study, preservation and appreciation of ancient coins and the cultural exchange it fosters.

Numismatic Press Helps Promote Temple Cleanup

Coins Weekly, a German Internet numismatic publication, has spotlighted community efforts in Greece to cleanup the Temple of Aphrodite in Thessaloniki. See http://www.muenzenwoche.de/en/page/4?&id=1157&type=a

Greek archaeological authorities had allowed the temple to be taken over by trash, and had refused private efforts to help.

Apparently, however, an article in Coins Weekly helped embarrass Greek authorities enough that they allowed community members access to the site to clean up the mess.

Perhaps then, coin collecting and what it does to encourage interest in the past should be encouraged rather than suppressed as advocated in archaeological circles, and by cultural bureaucrats in both Greece and the United States.

End Unilateral Trade Sanctions on Coin Collectors

The Huffington Post has published an editorial by Wayne Sayles attacking import restrictions on ancient coin collecting.

Coin collectors across the U.S. are tired of being singled out with unilateral sanctions. The State Department�s assault on our ability to collect coins is killing another American industry and leaving coin collectors in China and Europe to freely buy and sell. We�ve decided we aren�t going to take it anymore. Join us in ending the State Department�s assault on coin collecting.

Here is the first call to arms for coin collectors across the U.S.: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wayne-sayles/trade-sanction-coin-collectors_b_1400563.html

AIA Young Patrons Treated to Undocumented Coins at ANS

AIA Young Patrons have been treated to a visit of the ANS and its vast collection of ancient coins, which includes hundreds of thousands undocumented coins of the sort the AIA has condemned before the State Department's Cultural Property Advisory Committee. See http://www.archaeological.org/news/aianews/8634

The ANS only exists because of the generous contributions of collectors and dealers, though archaeologists associated with the AIA have also condemned them as no better than looters.

Yet, condemning collectors and dealers has not stopped the AIA from profiting from the ANS' wonderful collection of unprovenanced coins.

Hopefully, the more inquisitive of the AIA's young patrons will question the hypocrisy of the the AIA's actions.

Or, perhaps, this experience will be treated as a bit of a "guilty pleasure."

PAS and Treasure Act Numbers Up; Not Everyone Happy

One would think everyone should be happy that the PAS has reported a 36% increase and the Treasure Act has reported a 10% increase in records of finds in 2010. See http://finds.org.uk/news.

Not so. Paul Barford, a standard-bearer of sorts for archaeological snobs everywhere, is not happy. In fact, he claims that the these statistics are misleading because they allegedly incorporate figures from two other projects to record Roman and Celtic coins. See http://paul-barford.blogspot.com/2011/05/pasing-around-with-numbers-week-in.html.

But is this really so?

Looking at the actual figures, it's quite correct that in 2010 PAS took on 52,813 records from the project to record Roman coin finds from Wales and 37,931 from the Celtic coin index, but these were then excluded from the total of 90,416 finds recorded in 2010.

Indeed, if anything, there was an under count. PAS authorities also have a database entry in 2010 for the Frome hoard of 52,503 coins but that was not included in the figure of 90,146 objects recorded that year.

Yes, we should all be happy that PAS and the Treasure Act have encouraged the general public to help the archaeological community record the past in England and Wales.

BM Coin Cabinet Celebrates 150th Anniversary

CoinsWeekly reports on the 150th Anniversary of the British Museum Coin Cabinet here:
http://www.coinsweekly.com/en/News/4?&id=460

At its formation in 1753, the BM was given 20,000 ancient coins. A separate cabinet was formed in 1861. The collection was part of the Department of Manuscripts and then Antiquities before a separate Department of Coins and Medals was set up.

In any event, this again underscores the fact that ancient coins have been actively collected for generations, and that one cannot reasonably assume that an old coin is the product of a recent illicit dig.

What is the Impact of Import Restrictions on "Coins of Italian Type?"

Many collectors have expressed understandable concern about the impact of new import restrictions on "coins of Italian type." Hopefully, this overview will be of some assistance.

I. What Coins Are Now Restricted?

The January 19, 2011 Federal Register contains a notice that restrictions are extended to certain coins of Italian type:

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2011/pdf/2011-882.pdf

The categories of coins subject to the restrictions are as follows:

F. Coins of Italian Types�A type
catalogue of listed currency and coins
can be found in N.K. Rutter et al. (eds.),
Historia Numorum: Italy (London,
2001). Others appear in G.F. Hill Coins
of Ancient Sicily (Westminster, 1903).

1. Lumps of bronze (Aes Rude)�
Irregular lumps of bronze used as an
early medium of exchange in Italy from
the 9th century B.C.

2. Bronze bars (Ramo Secco and Aes
Signatum)�Cast bronze bars (whole or
cut) used as a media of exchange in
central Italy and Etruria from the 5th
century B.C.

3. Cast coins (Aes Grave)�Cast
bronze coins of Rome, Etruscan, and
Italian cities from the 4th century B.C.

4. Struck coins�Struck coins of the
Roman Republic and Etruscan cities
produced in gold, silver, and bronze
from the 3rd century B.C. to c. 211 B.C.,
including the ��Romano-Campanian��
coinage.

5. Struck colonial coinage�Struck
bronze coins of Roman republican and
early imperial colonies and municipia
in Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia from the
3rd century B.C. to c. A.D. 37.

6. Coins of the Greek cities�Coins of
the Greek cities in the southern Italian
peninsula and in Sicily (Magna
Graecia), cast or struck in gold, silver,
and bronze, from the late 6th century
B.C. to c. 200 B.C.

Source: Federal Register: January 19, 2011 (Volume 76, Number 12)
[Rules and Regulations] Pages 3012-3013.

Accordingly, although the import of coins of great interest to collectors of Greek coins are restricted, the import of most Republican and Imperial coins remains unrestricted.

II. What are the impact of Restrictions?

The above restricted coins of Italian types can only be imported into the United States with an export certificate issued by the Republic of Italy or �satisfactory evidence� demonstrating that the coins were exported from or were outside of Italy at least 10 years prior to importation into the US or that the Coins were exported from or were outside of Italy before January 19, 2011. What constitutes �satisfactory evidence� is ultimately left to the discretion of Customs, but usually takes the form of a declaration by the importer and a statement by the consigner.

Source: Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (�CPIA�) � 307, 19 U.S.C. � 2606.

III. Open Questions

Under the CPIA, import restrictions only apply to coins �first found in the ground� in Italy. See CPIA � 302 (2). However, if a coin of Italian type was excavated outside of Italy in a country that declares anything found in the ground to be state property (i.e., Egypt, Greece or Turkey), it may still be subject to seizure pursuant to the National Stolen Property Act and other provisions of U.S. law. The same principal would apply to a non-restricted Roman coin proven to have been illicitly excavated in Italy in violation of that country's patrimony laws.

The more relevant question is how U.S. Customs and Border Protection (�CBP�) will treat "coins of Italian type" which do not have a known find spot and/or whose whereabouts cannot be traced back before January 19, 2011, i.e., presumably an ever increasing number of coins as time passes. In the test case brought by the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild concerning Cypriot and Chinese import restrictions, CBP has taken the position that �country of origin� for purpose of the CPIA is synonymous with country of manufacture because Cypriot and Chinese coins may be found where they are manufactured. The Court has yet to rule on the validity of this claim.

There is another question related to coins already in the United States. Import restrictions should not apply to them, but what happens if they are sent abroad? Can they be imported back into the United States without the usual certifications? Presumably so, but again we will only know once CBP confronts the issue.

There also is the issue of the overzealous CBP officials. For example, one recently retired official in CBP's New York office was known to reject the certifications authorized under the CPIA. Instead, he apparently often demanded that the importer produce pictures of artifacts from auction catalogues to prove that an artifact was out of the country of origin as of the date of the restrictions. Obviously, if applied to coins, this would pose a major burden to importers.

In summary, these unprecedented restrictions promise to be a major headache for everyone, except, of course, their proponents in the archaeological community and the Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Cultural Heritage Center. The best I can suggest is to document your coins as being out of Italy before January 19, 2011 as well as you can and only purchase coins from established sellers.