What's New at Classical Coins
Dave Welsh
May 31, 2009
Since the last new listings notice:
* Many coins have been added to our online inventory
* Ongoing developments in the Cultural Property War
Coins Added
With this issue of "What's New" listing of 50 new ancient coins to the
Classical Coins website, www.classicalcoins.com , is announced. To quickly
review these new listings, click here
<http://www.classicalcoins.com/new.html> . This listing includes an
interesting group of Celtic potin coins issued by the Leuci, and a value
priced selection of Roman Imperial silver issues of the Severan dynasty.
Many collectors don't seem to realize that there is much more to Classical
Coins than what appears on our New Listings and Premier Coins pages. We
encourage you to explore the entire site, where hundreds of other attractive
coins await your perusal. We have been so busy that previous listings have
not been repriced to the current market, and many bargains remain to be
found. If a coin you are searching for is not listed, that does not mean
that we don't have it. We always have a large inventory of coins and
numismatic literature not yet listed for sale, and will gladly help
customers fill want lists, or locate difficult to find coins. For
assistance, telephone us at 805-562-8619 or send an email to
ser...@classicalcoins.com .
Don't forget to visit our VCoins store, located at
http://www.vcoins.com/ancient/classicalcoins/store , where you will find a
different stock of fine ancient coins, to which many new listings have
recently been added.
Readers should also be aware that we sell numismatic literature. These
listings may be found at http://www.classicalcoins.com/usedbooks.html
The Cultural Property War
The ACCG continues to seek information about behind-the-scenes import
restrictions decision making in its ongoing Freedom of Information Act
lawsuit against the State Department. Every new round of discoveries and
disclosures brings out further evidence supporting the ACCG's long standing
suspicions of anticollecting bias and possible official misconduct on the
part of State Department officials responsible for administering the US
response to the 1970 UNESCO Convention. It is becoming increasingly obvious
that the actual reason for obsessive State Department secrecy regarding
these decisions is fear of revelations that would result in embarrassment
and possible charges of official misconduct.
The FOIA lawsuit is phase one of a coordinated initiative to challenge
import restrictions on ancient coins. The ACCG recently began phase two of
its legal countermeasures: see http://tinyurl.com/pjzmsg .
As a British Airways jetliner touched down in Baltimore on April 15th, part
of its cargo was a small packet of 23 very common, inexpensive, Cypriot and
Chinese coins being imported by the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild. Entry of
these coins, forbidden under bilateral agreements with Cyprus and China,
initiated a test case to determine whether the State Department properly
banned their importation under the 1983 CPIA dealing with the protection of
cultural property.
As mandated, U.S. Customs detained these coins. The ACCG plans to use this
detention as a vehicle to strike down these unprecedented regulations
banning importation of whole classes of ancient coins, claiming that the
decision process for these agreements was orchestrated contrary to the
spirit and intent of governing law. It is also alleged that the State
Department misled Congress and the public about its decision not to follow
the recommendations of its own Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) -
a group of experts charged with advising the president on how best to
balance the goals of protecting cultural heritage against the needs of a
legitimate trade in cultural artifacts. Washington attorney Peter K. Tompa
will represent the ACCG in this matter.
According to Tompa, "Research and discovery to date in a separate ongoing
Freedom of Information Act case strongly suggests that State Department
bureaucrats acted improperly by adding coins to import restrictions on
Chinese cultural goods without any formal request from PRC officials. Even
more troubling, is their July 2007 decision to impose import restrictions on
coins of Cypriot type, which appears to have been adopted contrary to the
recommendations of CPAC."
The Ancient Coin Collectors Guild is the only organization actively
defending the rights of collectors against the steady and insidious
encroachment of legislation and regulations aimed at restricting and perhaps
eventually banning private collecting. This is an expensive process, both in
terms of the time donated by our volunteer staff and the funds required to
pursue legal action. I urge every reader to join the ACCG < http://accg.us >
and to contribute generously toward this worthy cause.
You may also wish to visit my blog < http://classicalcoins.blogspot.com > .
Much of its content relates to cultural property law.
Dave Welsh
Classical Coins