Posted by Charleston Voice, 3.15.12
The theft of $500 million in ancient gold and silver coins from Odyssey by the US State Department and four congressmen is a clear example of government agitating for the monopolization of personal wealth. Aren't rarities safer in the hands of individuals rather than squandered by governments?
The Great Wall of China was not built in a day. Neither was Rome. Nowadays, step by step, China and Italy are trying to build another wall, a wall that will keep their so-called cultural patrimony inside their countries and coin collector hands off the objects of their desire.
These two countries are not alone.
Under the plausible guise of deterring looting, governments are making it harder and harder for legitimate coin collectors to carry on with their numismatic pursuits in the ancient field.
In the United States these are taking the form of a growing list of import bans on ancient coins imposed at the request of the countries of origin themselves with support from the archaeological community.
Naturally, ancient collectors in the United States are attempting to defend the hobby they love and the open channels of international trade in coins that can be legally owned and traded. They are to be lauded and otherwise encouraged, but to say that the fight is all uphill is an understatement.
Governments are ham-fisted institutions even if they don’t necessarily intend to be, whether it be that of the United States or the nations that it deals with.
While no customs agent likely would think that a painting showing up at the border that looks like the Mona Lisa must have been looted from the Louvre, it is much harder to enforce customs regulations relating to coins that would have to cover thousands of different items and make intelligent distinctions among them.
Far better from the bureaucratic point of view to simply ban everything and eliminate the necessity for time-consuming thought.
Add the veneer of respectability for this course of action that is given by the general support of archaeologists and it becomes a bureaucratic no-brainer.
That is the hobby’s dilemma. The ever more restrictive import rules are essentially caving in to the requesting countries to ban all imports because in the game of diplomacy they will then owe us one and at the same time we make it easier for our own customs people to do their jobs.
How can collectors hope to win such a fight?
The Ancient Coin Collectors Guild is a small band of hobbyists trying to counter the encroachment of these senseless blanket import bans with all the tools at their disposal.
But it is a David and Goliath fight. The outcome would most assuredly go to Goliath if David never showed up at all, so we should all be grateful that this intrepid group has chosen to play the part.
On its website, the ACCG offers its profile as “a non-profit organization committed to promoting the free and independent collecting of coins from antiquity. The goal of this guild is to foster an environment in which the general public can confidently and legally acquire and hold any numismatic item of historical interest regardless of date or place of origin. ACCG strives to achieve its goals through education, political action, and consumer protection.” The web address is www.accg.us.
Once you become familiar with ACCG, perhaps you will be inclined to give this modern-day David a helping hand.
America is supposed to love an underdog. ACCG definitely fits that description. The ultimate question is whether all American coin collectors, and not just American collectors of ancient coins, consider this to be their fight.
I think it is.
Source
The theft of $500 million in ancient gold and silver coins from Odyssey by the US State Department and four congressmen is a clear example of government agitating for the monopolization of personal wealth. Aren't rarities safer in the hands of individuals rather than squandered by governments?
Uphill Ancients Battle Worth Waging
| By March 14, 2012 |
The Great Wall of China was not built in a day. Neither was Rome. Nowadays, step by step, China and Italy are trying to build another wall, a wall that will keep their so-called cultural patrimony inside their countries and coin collector hands off the objects of their desire.
These two countries are not alone.
Under the plausible guise of deterring looting, governments are making it harder and harder for legitimate coin collectors to carry on with their numismatic pursuits in the ancient field.
In the United States these are taking the form of a growing list of import bans on ancient coins imposed at the request of the countries of origin themselves with support from the archaeological community.
Naturally, ancient collectors in the United States are attempting to defend the hobby they love and the open channels of international trade in coins that can be legally owned and traded. They are to be lauded and otherwise encouraged, but to say that the fight is all uphill is an understatement.
Governments are ham-fisted institutions even if they don’t necessarily intend to be, whether it be that of the United States or the nations that it deals with.
While no customs agent likely would think that a painting showing up at the border that looks like the Mona Lisa must have been looted from the Louvre, it is much harder to enforce customs regulations relating to coins that would have to cover thousands of different items and make intelligent distinctions among them.
Far better from the bureaucratic point of view to simply ban everything and eliminate the necessity for time-consuming thought.
Add the veneer of respectability for this course of action that is given by the general support of archaeologists and it becomes a bureaucratic no-brainer.
That is the hobby’s dilemma. The ever more restrictive import rules are essentially caving in to the requesting countries to ban all imports because in the game of diplomacy they will then owe us one and at the same time we make it easier for our own customs people to do their jobs.
How can collectors hope to win such a fight?
The Ancient Coin Collectors Guild is a small band of hobbyists trying to counter the encroachment of these senseless blanket import bans with all the tools at their disposal.
But it is a David and Goliath fight. The outcome would most assuredly go to Goliath if David never showed up at all, so we should all be grateful that this intrepid group has chosen to play the part.
On its website, the ACCG offers its profile as “a non-profit organization committed to promoting the free and independent collecting of coins from antiquity. The goal of this guild is to foster an environment in which the general public can confidently and legally acquire and hold any numismatic item of historical interest regardless of date or place of origin. ACCG strives to achieve its goals through education, political action, and consumer protection.” The web address is www.accg.us.
Once you become familiar with ACCG, perhaps you will be inclined to give this modern-day David a helping hand.
America is supposed to love an underdog. ACCG definitely fits that description. The ultimate question is whether all American coin collectors, and not just American collectors of ancient coins, consider this to be their fight.
I think it is.
Source
