Cultural Property Laws in Germany and the US

There were definitely some astonishingly high closures but there were also some reasonable deals. Many of the lots I was watching far exceeded my max long before closing. Fortunately my primary targets weren't among those.

I had hoped the bidding would be restrained due to shipping issues but it looks it wasn't that much of a deterrent.

Given Naumann's export license headaches and the time and labor that must involve, I'm happily surprised their buyer's premium hasn't increased. I hope it stays low.

 

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Although I must mention in defense of NN I emailed them about the status of my lot auction 46 and within 2 hours the reply was asking me to be patient and support them as they are held captive to the new laws, which we all new anyway. I thanked them for their quick response and told them I will be patient.

 

Although I notice they haven't posted a new auction yet, and usually it is straight after the last, so I think they might be stopping for a breather............I hope.

 

I thought Naumann was an Austrian company? Anyway, I can only guess here, but a German dealer probably wants to be on the safe side these days. This act (Kulturgutschutzgesetz) is still relatively new, and you don't really want to "export" a coin, for example, that later turns out to be listed as archeologically relevant.

As I mentioned, just an assumption. What makes the situation a little more difficult is that, while the act is federal "frame legislation", it is the single states that will have to come up with the lists of what has archeological value. By and large, I am not really worried about the effects of the law on single coins. It does do a lot of damage with regard to collections and many other objects though, and in one way or another, the last word has not been spoken yet ...

Christian

 

NAC's auctions have a statement to this effect: "None of the coins offered in this sale are subject to any kind of US import restrictions ....." They have the papers ready before the auction (and before the catalog).
I did not bid in the NN auction only because others had items I wanted more.

 

Hirsch recently shipped a coin I won the next day after I paid the invoice. So, with NAC and Hirsh it's business as usual. Who else?

 

Just bought some stuff from a German Auction company. Got to the US in 4 days instead of 4 weeks. I guess they are working out their kinks.

Or maybe it was just because the ancients I bought were Chinese...

 

I picked up a cast bar from a German auction on 10/10. Shipments from Italy and Great Britain are faster! It arrived Saturday, or just over a month. I am still waiting for a coin from the NN auction in September.

 

If that's NN Auction 46, it shouldn't be far away, I received my Greek coin from that auction today....hooray it's been a long wait.

 

Was NN 47 any faster with shipping?

 

NN 47 hasn't shipped yet. I'm awaiting two coins from that auction. Prior to NN 47 they sent notice indicating they expected a processing time of 2-4 weeks but that didn't pan out .

 

Oh gosh, I'm sorry to hear this. There are a few NN 48 lots I'm interested in, hate to hear there will be a long wait.

 

All you guys waiting for coins you won at European auctions:
I really don't understand why you want them asap.
In the old days (60's to 80's) we bid by snail mail, paid by snail mail and after our payment was approved, we received the coin by snail mail. Does it really make a difference if the time lag from the moment you know that you were the winning bidder to the moment you hold the coin in your hand is as short as possible?

 

Yes. I guess this is one of things that proves the 'good old days' weren't always so good. I don't know about you, but I like it when a seller is prompt and professional in regards to shipping.

A precedent has been set, you can't turn back the hands of time ...

 

Well, all I know is Z-Bro sent my coin on Thursday November 3rd and it arrived today Tuesday November 15th

=> Singapore to the The North Pole!! .... pretty slick, eh?

 

I have bought a few items in German auctions over the past few months. In each case, the auction house shipped promptly. The delays seemed to be getting the package out of Germany (7-10 days) and then through U.S. customs (4 days). I'm not sure whether the delay at the German border was due to the new law; but since none of the packages appeared opened or tampered with, I suspect not. 2-3 weeks from shipping date to delivery date was about average on each of three packages. I didn't mind the delays. The delays gave me more time to prepare tray tags, enter coin information into my database, etc. When each coin finally arrived, it seemed like a forgotten surprise and worth the wait.

 

Yah, I thought you'd be impressed

 

The funny thing about this is that the international part of this journey took just 4 days (my tracking showed that it was in Canada on the 7th). Rest of the time it took to get to Steve's door involved hooking up the sled dogs, putting on the Arctic wear, avoiding traps set by the natives along the route to waylay postal workers delivering expensive ancient coins ...


Oh, and to further improve land speed, may I also humbly suggest Canada Post reconsider makeup of the sled team?

 

100%

 

I wrote Naumann early this morning asking the status of export licenses for auction 47. Here's an excerpt from their reply:

We got the export approvals this week and everything will be shipped tomorrow. With the new simplified way the processing time just took 4 weeks (counted from the date when we applied for the approval) - for auction 48 we dont need to wait for the payments now - so this will be faster too.

It looks that we will be able shipping our coins within a reasonable timeframe again!