The comment period for next week's CPAC meeting to address a renewal of the MOU with Italy, a new MOU with Vietnam, and other renewals with Chile and Morocco has now closed.
A total of 214 comments were uploaded.
Here a breakdown of comments by subject matter:
Coins: 176/214
Chile: 48/214
Italy: 131/214
Morocco: 52/214
Vietnam: 47/214
There were very few comments calling for
import restrictions on coins. All came from either archaeological
advocacy groups or archaeologists associated with these groups.
The American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR), the Archaeological Institute of America, and ATHAR were the only archaeological groups that appear to have engaged on the issues. The Committee for Cultural Policy, Global Heritage Alliance, and CINOA posted comments questioning the MOUs or proposed import restrictions. A number of numismatic groups commented, particularly on Roman Imperial coins: American Numismatic Association; Ancient Coin Collectors Guild; International Association of Professional Numismatists; and the Oriental Numismatic Society.
The renewal of the Italian MOU received the most support from archaeologists, but even here the numbers were limited. This demonstrates once again that the MOU program which is pitched as a “soft power” effort, really has very small constituency. It also should be noted that one of these commenters, ASOR, is a major State Department contractor which has received considerable funding to write reports to help justify cultural property MOUs.
Are Trump DOGE budget cutters watching?
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