Coin Collectors Call for Grassroots Response to DOS

GAINESVILLE, Mo., April 13 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 6-7, the U.S. State Department's Cultural Property Advisory Committee will deliberate on a request for renewal of import restrictions on a variety of objects that Italy claims as State cultural heritage. See: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/2010-7898.htm

The Ancient Coin Collectors Guild (ACCG) expects that, in this session, an attempt will be made to add coins to the list of restricted objects -- even though they have been exempted twice before in the past decade. If successful, this would mean that ancient coins minted in what is now Italy will require either an export permit from Italy or documentation indicating that they left Italy prior to the effective date of the restriction.

The rub to coin collectors is that these restrictions would likely be applied to objects of "Italian" type entering the U.S. from any country, not just to shipments from Italy.  This is of paramount concern because millions of Roman and Greek coins from Southern Italy and Sicily have circulated in well-established legitimate markets for hundreds of years.  Only a tiny percentage of this massive resource has any associated documentation.  Therefore, any mandated documentation would make orphans of these coins already in collections and the associate trade.  Consequently, the collector guild has appealed to a wide array of collectors for support in opposing any addition to the existing Memorandum of Understanding.

The ACCG is urging all collectors and anyone else concerned with the erosion of individual rights and freedoms to speak out against this dangerous precedent, that would shift the burden of proof to the buyer instead of the accuser (government) when an import is detained and/or seized for supposed illegal entry. To assist in this grassroots effort, the ACCG has set up a free fax wizard that will send opponents concerns directly to the Cultural Property Advisory Committee.

To read about the issue and access this free service, simply visit the ACCG web site at:

http://accg.us/ or go directly to the free fax service at http://www.vcoins.com/fax/

The process is simple and will take only a few minutes.

This service is available to residents of any country as the MOU will adversely affect the livelihood of coin and antiquity dealers of all nations and it will also adversely affect the ability of U.S. collectors to pursue their hobby.

Contact: Wayne G. Sayles, 417-679-2142

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SOURCE ACCG