The MOU between the US and Italy covering cultural property was extended on Jan. 15, 2016. The MOU has been in place since 2001, and added restrictions to coins in 2011. Restricted are coins of ancient Greece, Etruscan, and early Roman Republic as well as city coinages known to have originated in Italy. There was an effort to expand the MOU to cover Roman Imperial coins, but this did not happen. You can read more here: http://www.numismaticnews.net/article/import-restrictions-extended-not-expanded or here: http://www.coinsweekly.com/en/News/US-MOU-with-Italy-Renewed/4?&id=3883 I am not a fan of leaving coins in the ground until the turn to oxide or an archaeologist recovers them and dates a dig. I think coin restrictions are a bit like a tree lover telling a truck collector he can not restore the one below because it might hurt the tree.
I'm glad the restrictions weren't extended but hate that the MOU exists in any form regarding coins. Coins are not "cultural heritage". They are items used in commerce and as such circulated beyond the current extent of what is now Italy. Perhaps the United States should ban Italians from buying obsolete US coins. Same thing, right? Return all old US coins to the United States. Now!! They are our cultural heritage. Ridiculous.
Humph. Now I'm all riled up again. Continuing the ridiculous logic, should the US ban other countries' citizens from buying or owning an Australian 1944 threepence? A Columbian 1934 50 centavos? Why not?? These and many other foreign coins were struck on US soil. They must be the cultural heritage of the United States even though they circulated elsewhere. Return them!!
Don't give them the idea of returning things. I can deal with no more coming in but we don't want them mailing the ones we have had for 250 years back to a country that did not exist when John Quincy Adams got his Romans.
I agree with the sentiment. Coinage is designed to represent a conveyance of wealth. Quid-quo-pro (hence, a Brit calling their Pound a "Quid") is trading a unit of value (coins, currency, goods-in-kind, etc.) for the same value in trade goods. They RECEIVED value in goods or service for the coins spent. Ergo, ownership of the coins have been conveyed to the receiver. Period. Hey, like you saying, let's recall our currency, coins, and all our Treasuries from Italy? Like I always use in effecting a behavior: Deprivation or Hang a Price Tag on it! Works every time... Quid quo pro...
This is probably the reason the MOU was not widened. The coins already covered generally did not circulate outside Italy, as opposed to later republican and imperial coins which did. It is a similar situation with the current Greek MOU. Bronzes and small silver which (theoretically) only circulated locally are covered while large silver pieces such as tetradrachms are not covered because they were in fact trade coins and circulated widely outside of Greece. While I don't agree with the MOUs or the notion of "cultural property", I do understand the logic. It isn't coin collecting per se that the majority of MOU proponents want to end, but the destructiveness of illicit coin and artifact hunters. I have personally known archaeologists who have arrived at sites for a summer excavation season, after months of planning, only to find that the site has been destroyed by "pot hunters" in their absence. Why can't collectors, governments and academics around the world learn to cooperate as they do today very successfully in Britain?
Regardless of circulation patterns, the logic behind the MOUs is built on the patently false assumption that most unprovenanced coins are recent finds. The reality is quite different as I and others who diligently research provenance have shown. And I'd argue that collectors are already doing more than enough to cooperate with academics as collectors are the ones doing much of the new work in ancient numismatics these days(not that any of the militant archaeologists urging the US to pass these unconstitutional measures would ever admit that).
Point taken; the hope is that the restrictions will curb looting and its resulting disturbance of archaeological sites. Perhaps that might make a dent if every country signed such an MOU. I don't agree with the statement that "coins already covered generally did not circulate outside of Italy". This book is chock full of coins currently on the restricted list and the hoards inventoried are all from outside of what is now Italy.
I think you misunderstood my point. The Italian and Greek MOUs are separate documents. As noted above, the original Italian MOU covers mostly Etruscan, early Republican (aes grave, etc) and other issues which are rarely, if ever, found outside Italy. The current Greek MOU covers AE and fractional silver issues minted in Greece for local circulation but does not include coins which saw wide circulation, such as Athenian tetradrachms. I apologize if my previous post wasn't clear.
@dltsrq, you're right. I misunderstood the scope and mixed up the MOUs. It doesn't change how I feel about the matter. CNG's information on the subject, excerpt below: What is the Impact of Import Restrictions on "Coins of Italian Type?" Prepared by Peter Tompa Many collectors have expressed understandable concern about the impact of new import restrictions on "coins of Italian type." Hopefully, this overview will be of some assistance. I. What Coins Are Now Restricted? The January 19, 2011 Federal Register contains a notice that restrictions are extended to certain coins of Italian type: View the Government Record. The categories of coins subject to the restrictions are as follows: F. Coins of Italian Types—A type catalogue of listed currency and coins can be found in N.K. Rutter et al. (eds.), Historia Numorum: Italy (London, 2001). Others appear in G.F. Hill Coins of Ancient Sicily (Westminster, 1903). 1. Lumps of bronze (Aes Rude)— Irregular lumps of bronze used as an early medium of exchange in Italy from the 9th century B.C. 2. Bronze bars (Ramo Secco and Aes Signatum)—Cast bronze bars (whole or cut) used as a media of exchange in central Italy and Etruria from the 5th century B.C. 3. Cast coins (Aes Grave)—Cast bronze coins of Rome, Etruscan, and Italian cities from the 4th century B.C. 4. Struck coins—Struck coins of the Roman Republic and Etruscan cities produced in gold, silver, and bronze from the 3rd century B.C. to c. 211 B.C., including the ‘‘Romano-Campanian’’ coinage. 5. Struck colonial coinage—Struck bronze coins of Roman republican and early imperial colonies and municipia in Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia from the 3rd century B.C. to c. A.D. 37. 6. Coins of the Greek cities—Coins of the Greek cities in the southern Italian peninsula and in Sicily (Magna Graecia), cast or struck in gold, silver, and bronze, from the late 6th century B.C. to c. 200 B.C. Source: Federal Register: January 19, 2011 (Volume 76, Number 12) [Rules and Regulations] Pages 3012-3013. Accordingly, although the import of coins of great interest to collectors of Greek coins are restricted, the import of most Republican and Imperial coins remains unrestricted.
