It's Time for a Reset

Here is what I said, more or less, at yesterday's virtual Cultural Property Advisory Committee Meeting.  I hope to post a full report of that meeting shortly:  

            The Trump Administration’s emphasis on promoting American business and scaling back regulations requires this Committee to consider a new paradigm, one which facilitates the lawful trade in common items like coins, particularly where they are already legally available for sale in countries seeking restrictions. 

            There is no better place to start than Italy.  Since 2011 there has been an embargo in place on ancient coins of Italian types minted before 211 BC.   During this same period, Italy’s Carabinieri have mounted a successful campaign against looters without damaging Italy’s large, lawful numismatic market. 

            What does IAPN request?  First, we join hundreds of coin collectors to oppose expanding the current designated list past 211 BC  to encompass late Roman Republican and Imperial coins. 

Prior committees that considered the initial MOU in 2001 and subsequent renewals for 2005, 2011, 2016 and 2021 all came to the same conclusion buttressed by current research: One simply cannot assume that all such coins are “Italian cultural property” when only 5.24% of the 15,000 Roman Imperial coins hoards containing over 6 million coins are found within Italy itself. 

The current Italian designated list also needs to be reformed.  At a minimum—using the Greek designated list as a model—larger denomination coins which circulated in international trade should be delisted.

            We also request that any renewal be conditioned on Italy facilitating the export of any item legally available for sale within Italy itself.  Despite solemn promises, Italy has actually made it harder to export ancient coins.  Finally, this Committee should also require that US Customs accept legal exports from sister EU countries as legal imports of items on the Italian designated list.  Such a modification of the current MOU is not only consistent with the UNESCO Convention, but also with Italian law. 

            The proposed MOU with Vietnam raises similar issues.  A past IAPN President who visited the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hue (pronounced “Hugh”) earlier this week reports that cash coins up for restriction here are for sale to tourists at a gift shop there. 

More than that, any import restrictions will only cause confusion.  Chinese cash coins found in Vietnam also circulated in far greater numbers in China.  They should be restricted, if at all, under the current Chinese MOU.  No Vietnamese coins should be restricted. The earliest Vietnamese coins are virtually identical to Chinese prototypes from the post-Tang period which are not restricted under the MOU with China. Later Vietnamese coins, particularly the machine struck coins of the French protectorate struck in France or at the US Mint, do not meet the threshold requirements for either archaeological or ethnological objects.

As for the other MOUs, the designated list for Morocco does not provide fair notice to importers.  It simply recounts all the ancient and early modern civilizations whose coin types circulated within Morocco without naming specific types exclusively found there. Limiting restrictions to types that “circulated primarily” in Morocco fails to correct this problem, particularly where the vast majority  “circulated primarily” elsewhere. Accordingly, if restrictions are to continue, the current designated list must be limited to bronze coin types issued by Moroccan mints for local circulation.

Finally, there should be no new restrictions on coins for Chile or Costa Rica.  Spanish Colonial and early Republican era coinage that circulated in these countries also circulated in far greater numbers elsewhere, including as legal tender here in the United States until 1857.   They are as much part of US cultural heritage as they are of these nations. 

Thank you.