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CLASSICAL NUMISMATIC GROUP, INC.
Fellow Numismatists: Following the surprise Senate passage of a bill in early March, you are urged to fax your Congressman and Senators concerning legislation that could destroy ancient and foreign coin collecting in the U.S.! The issue of import restrictions on Iraqi archaeological items was first raised last year in the wake of highly exaggerated reports about extensive looting at the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. After some months when the issue moved to the background, the impending turnover of sovereignty to Iraq has again brought the issue to the fore. On March 4th, 2004, the Senate passed legislation as part of the miscellaneous trade bill (H.R. 1047: Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2004) that authorizes the executive branch to impose import restrictions on artifacts of potential Iraqi origin. The bill was first introduced as S.1291 year by Senator Grassley of Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Because this was part of a broad trade bill, there was no chance for hearings nor for any interested parties to make any public comments. The bill will allow the executive branch to impose import restrictions on coins without a hearing even though the President's experts on the Cultural Property Advisory Committee ("CPAC") recommended against imposing such restrictions on coins on two separate occasions in the past (in response to requests by Italy and Cypress). No coins are missing from the Iraq Museum in Baghdad and reports of recent looting in the countryside do not appear to focus on coins. Nevertheless, under the guise of an "emergency condition", the Senate bill threatens to allow Customs to detain and seize coins merely because they were of a type that potentially circulated in Iraq. An impossible burden will be placed on the importer to prove the negative - that the coins in question did not come from Iraq. Import restrictions will place a cloud on the title to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of historical coins that were never Iraqi archeological material. The language of the bill is so broad that it could create a situation in which Customs could seize and detain a shipment of coins that MIGHT have originated in Iraq in the sole opinion of a Customs official. The burden of proof would then be on the importer to prove that the coins in the shipment DID NOT originate in Iraq (that they were neither struck nor discovered there). Since coins have passed easily across borders for millennia (in ancient times as currency and in modern times as collectibles), it would be virtually impossible to prove that a particular coin had NOT been in Iraq. The numismatic effect of the proposed legislation would be to stifle the legitimate collecting and study of coins. Museums, dealers, and collectors would all be affected. We urge that this legislation be opposed in its current form. The House is considering its own version of the measure. While the sponsors of the legislation in the House have been sympathetic to coin collectors, the exact wording of their own bill remains in flux. Time is of the essence! You can make a difference! Please fax your comments to your state's elected representatives. Fax is the preferred method of communication as mail is delayed and often damaged due to procedures in place in Congress since the anthrax scare.
Faxes to Greeley, Baucus, Thomas, Crane, English, and Leach are the most important. Sincerely,
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