The State Department has announced a proposed
renewal and amendment of a Cultural Property Agreement or Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) with the Republic of Cyprus. The State Department has also announced a
proposed renewal with the Republic of Peru. Import restrictions under the current MOU with
Cyprus cover all ancient coins struck in Cyprus through 235 A.D. Roman or Byzantine coins of Imperial types and
other types that circulated in Cyprus are not subject to import
restrictions. Because this MOU is subject to amendment, there is a chance that the State Department may seek to extend current restrictions to other types of coins, particularly those issued by the Crusaders. The current MOU with Peru does not include
colonial or early Republican era coins, but there has been some “chatter” that
restrictions should be extended to them too.
Further information about the October 5, 2021
public meeting of the Cultural Property
Advisory Committee (CPAC) can be found
here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/09/13/2021-19670/cultural-property-advisory-committee-notice-of-meeting To comment, go to the regulations.gov website
and enter the docket DOS-2021-0032 to comment or comment from this link
here: https://www.regulations.gov/document/DOS-2021-0032-0001 Alternatively, the Federal
Register page listed above should be modified to include a “comment here”
button. The comment period ends
on September 26, 2021.
A. Background for
Coin Collectors
There are large numbers of coin collectors and
numismatic firms in the US. Very few collectors do so to “invest.” Most
collect out of love of history, as an expression of their own cultural
identity, or out of interest in other cultures. All firms that
specialize in ancient coins in the US are small businesses. Private collectors
and dealers support much academic research into coins. For example,
an American collector collaborated with academics to produce an extensive study
of Seleucid coins. A further clamp down on collecting will inevitably lead to
less scholarship.
While what became the Cultural Property Implementation
Act (CPIA) was being negotiated, one of the State Department’s top lawyers
assured Congress that “it would be hard to imagine a case” where coins would be
restricted. In 2007, however, the State Department imposed
import restrictions on Cypriot coins, against CPAC’s recommendations, and then
misled the public and Congress about it in official government
reports. What also should be troubling is that the decision maker,
Assistant Secretary Dina Powell, did so AFTER she had accepted a job with Goldman
Sachs where she was recruited by and worked for the spouse of the founder of
the Antiquities Coalition, an archaeological advocacy group that has lobbied
extensively for import restrictions. Since that time, additional
import restrictions have been imposed on coins from Algeria, Bulgaria, China,
Egypt, Greece, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Turkey, and
Yemen.
1.
Current Cypriot Import Restrictions
Current import restrictions apply
to the following coin types:
1. Issues of the ancient kingdoms of Amathus, Kition,
Kourion, Idalion, Lapethos, Marion, Paphos, Soli, and Salamis dating from the
end of the 6th century B.C. to 332 B.C.;
2. Issues
of the Hellenistic period, such as those of Paphos, Salamis, and Kition from 332
B.C. to c. 30 B.C.;
3. Provincial
and local issues of the Roman period from c. 30 B.C. to 235 A.D. Often these
have a bust or head on one side and the image of a temple (the Temple of
Aphrodite at Palaipaphos) or statue (statue of Zeus Salaminios) on the other.
See 72 Fed. Reg. at 38,471-73 (July 13, 2007).
With respect to the wording of the restrictions themselves, Customs has issued
restrictions based on place of manufacture rather than find spot.
This is significant because
such restrictions ignore evidence that demonstrates that Cypriot mint coins are
regularly discovered outside of Cyprus. Indeed,
in a document released under the Freedom of Information Act, a Cypriot cultural
official admitted as much in a communication with the State Department:
It is true that Cypriot
coins shared the same destiny as all other coins of the ancient world. As a
standard media of exchange they circulated all over the ancient world due to their small size, which facilitated their
easy transport… The continuous
circulation of coins for many centuries amongst collectors and between collectors and museums make
any attempt to locate their exact find spot extremely difficult.
Under current Customs procedures, the above
types can only be imported into the United States with: (a) an export
certificate issued by Cyprus (which do not exist); (b)
“satisfactory evidence” demonstrating that the coins were exported from or were
outside of Cyprus at least 10 years prior to importation into the U.S.; or (c)
“satisfactory evidence” demonstrating that the coins were exported from or were
outside of Cyprus before restrictions were announced on July 13, 2007. 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.
The current restrictions do not extend to Roman
or Byzantine coins of widely circulating Imperial types or later coins that
circulated in Cyprus that are popular with collectors. However, we cannot
afford to take this for granted; we simply cannot assume that the
archaeological lobby—which actively opposes private collecting—will not press
for “more” this time around particularly because the Federal Register indicates
that Cyprus itself seeks not just a renewal, but an amendment of the current
agreement. Accordingly, if one feels strongly about their continued
ability to collect such coins, they should comment on the regulations.gov
website. Why? Because silence will only be spun as acquiesce.
So, serious collectors should oppose restrictions on coins or their expansion
to widely circulating trade coins as unnecessary and detrimental to the
appreciation of ancient culture and the people-to-people contacts collecting
brings.
2.
Proposed Peruvian MOU Renewal
The proposed renewal of the MOU with Peru
could also possibly impact collectors of popular Spanish Colonial and Peruvian
Republican era coins. To date, the State
Department has not imposed import restrictions on such coins, presumably
because they circulated so widely that they were legal tender in the US before
1857.
3.
The Negative Impact of Import Restrictions on People-to-People
Contacts Collecting Brings
The cumulative impact of import restrictions
has been very problematical for collectors since outside of some valuable Greek
coins, most coins simply lack the document trail necessary for legal import
under the “safe harbor” provisions of 19 U.S.C. § 2606. The CPIA
only authorizes the government to impose import restrictions on coins and other
artifacts first discovered within and subject to the export control of Italy.
(19 U.S.C. § 2601). Furthermore, seizure is only appropriate for items on the
designated list exported from the State Party after the effective date
of regulations. (19 U.S.C. § 2606). Unfortunately,
the State Department and Customs view this authority far more
broadly. Designated lists have been prepared based on where coins
are made and sometimes found, not where they are actually found and hence are
subject to export control. Furthermore, restrictions are not applied
prospectively solely to illegal exports made after the effective date of
regulations, but rather are enforced against any import into the U.S. made
after the effective date of regulations, i.e., an embargo, not targeted,
prospective import restrictions. While it is true enforcement has been
spotty, we know of situations where coins have been detained, seized, and
repatriated where the importer cannot produce information to prove his or her
coins were outside of a country for which import restrictions were granted
before the date of restrictions.
B. What You
Can Do
Admittedly, CPAC seems to be little more than
a rubber stamp. Still, to remain silent is to give the cultural
bureaucrats and archaeologists with an ax to grind against collectors exactly
what they want-- the claim that any restrictions will not be
controversial.
As discussed above, further information about
the upcoming CPAC hearing and how to comment can be found here:: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/09/13/2021-19670/cultural-property-advisory-committee-notice-of-meeting and https://www.regulations.gov/document/DOS-2021-0032-0001 Please note comments must be made on or
before the September 26, 2021 close date.
Please also note comments submitted in electronic
form are not private. They will be posted on http://www.regulations.gov.
Because the comments cannot be edited to remove any identifying or contact
information, the Department of State cautions against including any information
in an electronic submission that one does not want publicly disclosed
(including trade secrets and commercial or financial information that is
privileged or confidential pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 2605(i)(1)).
C. What Should
You Say?
What should you say? Provide
a brief, polite explanation about how import restrictions impact you or your
business and/or the cultural understanding and people to people contacts
collecting provides. Ancient coin collectors should add it
makes no sense to expand current restrictions when the State Department already
determined which coins were typically “first discovered within” and “subject to
the export control” of Cyprus. Finally, collectors can point out
that Cyprus, as an EU member, must respect the rights of other EU members to
export coins of types on the Cypriot designated list, and so should the
U.S. Comments about Peruvian coins should focus on the fact that they
circulated widely and that they were even legal tender in the US before 1857. Comments from collectors outside the US are
also welcome.
Personalized comments are best, but
feel free to use this submission as a model:
RE Cyprus MOU Renewal
Dear CPAC:
Please either end the current restrictions on
coins, or, at least, do not expand them. It makes no sense to expand
current restrictions when the State Department already determined Roman
Imperial and Byzantine coins did not primarily circulate within Cyprus. Moreover, other EU countries are allowed to export Cypriot coins on the current designated list. So, any MOU renewal with Cyprus should recognize that a legal export of any item on the Cypriot designated list
from a sister EU country will be treated as a legal export from Cyprus itself.
Sincerely,
X
RE: Peru MOU Renewal
Dear CPAC:
Please do not use this MOU renewal as an
excuse to extend import restrictions to Spanish Colonial and Republican era
coins that were struck or circulated within Peru. Such coins are neither archaeological nor ethnological in nature. They are not archaeological because coins this late are not only or often found in the ground. They are not ethnological because they are not the products of tribal society, but of what were then considered sophisticated industrial processes. Such coins also circulated widely elsewhere
so one cannot assume they are found in the country. Indeed, they ever were US legal tender before
1857.
Sincerely,
X
