Call To Action - Urgent c/o ANA

[Nick Pyle]

Begin forwarded message:

From: American Numismatic Association <p...@money.org>
Subject: An important message regarding imports from Cyprus
Date: December 28, 2011 6:50:43 PM EST
To: np...@attglobal.net

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An important message regarding imports from Cyprus. The latest
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Cyprus and the United States
that went into effect in 2007 will expire next summer. This bilateral
agreement specifically forbade ancient Cypriot coins, among a long
list of other archaeological objects, from entering our country
without either an export permit or “documentation indicating that they
left Cyprus prior to the effective date of the restriction.”

Cyprus recently informed the United States of its desire to renew the
present MoU, presumably for another five years. An official proposal
was drafted and the Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) will
be offering its recommendations on whether or not to adopt it in mid-
January. As a dedicated collector, you in turn can influence the
outcome of the deliberations by submitting a public comment at this
link:

http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=DOS-2011-0135-0002

The ANA hopes that the inconvenient timing will not prevent you from
taking a few minutes to share your thoughts in support of the hobby,
which is becoming increasingly restricted each year.

"We are deeply concerned that ever-expanding import restrictions have
gravely damaged the ability of American citizens to learn about
ancient cultures through handling common ancient coinage of the sort
that is avidly collected worldwide,” ANA President Tom Hallenbeck
said. “Such regulations, to the extent they exist at all, should be
narrowly tailored to restrict goods that could only be the product of
looting from archaeological sites. Coins cannot meet this test. By
their nature, ancient coins have circulated far from their place of
origin, have been extensively collected throughout the world in modern
centuries, and like common mass-produced items, ancient coins do not
normally have any verifiable provenance.”

Wayne G. Sayles, founder and current executive director of the Ancient
Coin Collectors Guild (ACCG) is likewise concerned: “It is important
to oppose the inclusion of coins in any MoU because our tacit
acceptance of their inclusion is in effect an endorsement of the
philosophy that private ownership of ancient coins, and independent
scholarship, in America should be controlled by foreign powers.”

The deadline for online submissions is 11:59 P.M. EST on Jan. 3.

If you encounter problems with the above link, go to http://www.regulations.gov/
and search for Docket No. DOS-2011-0135.

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