David C. Harper, Editor, World Coin News -- July 2004

"More than a year has passed since the July 2003 issue of World Coin

News gave this space to Peter K. Tompa and his call to collectors to

act to prevent passage in the U.S. Congress of an import-control law

that would harm collectors and dealers of ancient coins.

"The good news is that no such law has passed in the intervening 13

months. The bad news is the bill mentioned last year has been joined by

other bad bills that could be passed at any time.

"The International Association of Professional Numismatists, the

Professional Numismatists Guild and a new organization called the

Ancient Coin Collectors Guild have joined to monitor legislative

activity in Congress and to call on all hobbyists to lend a hand in

their struggle against the proposed legislation by contacting their

elected representatives in Congress.

"The initial threat to collecting ancient coins came in the wake of the

fall of Baghdad in April 2003 and the international news video of

looting. Accompanying reports indicated that huge quantities of

material of great archeological value were taken.

"In the heat of that moment, Congress seemed receptive to a proposal

backed by archaeologists to stop such looting. Unfortunately, the fine

print of the first bill, H.R. 2009, treats all honest collectors and

dealers as if they are international thieves. It puts the burden of

proof on anyone bringing ancients into the United States. As written,

it prohibits the importation into the United States of archeological or

cultural materials of Iraq without either documentation that the

materials were removed from Iraq prior to Aug. 2, 1990, or official

certification from the government of Iraq that the materials were not

exported in violation of any Iraqi laws.

"How do you prove a negative? How do you prove the coins you are

bringing into the country were not illegally removed from Iraq? Perhaps

modern proof sets from Gambia won't come under restriction, but any

ancient Greek coin that might have been anywhere near Iraq could come

under the scrutiny of customs agents.

"This legislation in the House of Representatives was joined by other

noxious bills, H.R. 3497 and H.R. 1047. In the Senate, there is S.

671. The most recent bill, H.R. 4641, is called "Cultural Conservation

of the Crossroads of Civilization Act" dealing with Afghanistan.

"Much has changed since the fall of Baghdad early last year. The

looting reports were found to be greatly exaggerated, but

unfortunately, the emergence of the truth did not make the legislation

disappear. In fact, the decline in the actual need for the legislation

actually seems to cause would-be remedies to multiply.

"What can World Coin News readers do? Well, they can join hands

figuratively speaking with their hobby colleagues who collect and deal

in ancients and express their opposition to the bills restricting

imports.

"A special Web site has been set up to facilitate the process for

collectors. Check it out at http://vcoins.com/fax.

"On this Web site you can prepare yourself by reading the texts of the

various bills. You can read a letter from a collector in Turkey who

lives with onerous rules and regulations on his collecting activity. Is

that kind of restrictive environment in the cards for the rest of us?

Certainly not if IAPN, PNG and ACCG gets help from World Coin News

readers and other hobbyists.

"With the restrictions put on congressional mail since the anthrax

scare in 2001, contacting Congress via the Internet is the quickest and

surest method of making your voice heard."