New import restrictions on Egyptian coins for US collectors

The MOU with Egypt has been published on the Federal Register at this link. I suggest all collectors interested in coins of Egyptian types read up. Important for coin collectors is the following section regarding coins that are now subject to restrictions:


H. Coins In copper or bronze, silver, and gold.

1. General – There are a number of references that list Egyptian coin types. Below are some examples. Most Hellenistic and Ptolemaic coin types are listed in R.S. Poole, A Catalogue of Greek Coins in the British Museum: Alexandria and the Nomes (London, 1893); J.N. Svoronos, [The Greek characters didn't copy but this is Svoronos's book on Egyptian types], (Münzen der Ptolemäer) (Athens 1904); and R.A. Hazzard, Ptolemaic Coins: An Introduction for Collectors (Toronto, 1985). Examples of catalogues listing the Roman coinage in Egypt are J.G. Milne, Catalogue of Alexandrian Coins (Oxford, 1933); J.W. Curtis, The Tetradrachms of Roman Egypt (Chicago, 1969); A. Burnett, M. Amandry, and P.P Ripollès, Roman Provincial Coinage I: From the Death of Caesar to the Death of Vitellius (44 BC-AD 69) (London, 1998 – revised edition); and A. Burnett, M. Amandry, and I. Carradice, Roman Provincial Coinage II: From Vespasian to Domitian (AD 69-96) (London, 1999). There are also so-called nwb-nfr coins, which may date to Dynasty 30. See T. Faucher, W. Fischer-Bossert, and S. Dhennin, “Les Monnaies en or aux types hiéroglyphiques nwb nfr,” Bulletin de l'institut français d'archéologie orientale 112 (2012), pp. 147-169.

2. Dynasty 30 – Nwb nfr coins have the hieroglyphs nwb nfr on one side and a horse on the other.

3. Hellenistic and Ptolemaic coins – Struck in gold, silver, and bronze at Alexandria and any other mints that operated within the borders of the modern Egyptian state. Gold coins of and in honor of Alexander the Great, struck at Alexandria and Memphis, depict a helmeted bust of Athena on the obverse and a winged Victory on the reverse. Silver coins of Alexander the Great, struck at Alexandria and Memphis, depict a bust of Herakles wearing the lion skin on the obverse, or “heads” side, and a seated statue of Olympian Zeus on the reverse, or “tails” side. Gold coins of the Ptolemies from Egypt will have jugate portraits on both obverse and reverse, a portrait of the king on the obverse and a cornucopia on the reverse, or a jugate portrait of the king and queen on the obverse and cornucopiae on the reverse. Silver coins of the Ptolemies coins from Egypt tend to depict a portrait of Alexander wearing an elephant skin on the obverse and Athena on the reverse or a portrait of the reigning king with an eagle on the reverse. Some silver coins have jugate portraits of the king and queen on the obverse. Bronze coins of the Ptolemies commonly depict a head of Zeus (bearded) on the obverse and an eagle on the reverse. These iconographical descriptions are non-exclusive and describe only some of the more common examples. There are other types and variants. Approximate date: ca. 332 B.C. through ca. 31 B.C.

4. Roman coins – Struck in silver or bronze at Alexandria and any other mints that operated within the borders of the modern Egyptian state in the territory of the modern state of Egypt until the monetary reforms of Diocletian. The iconography of the coinage in the Roman period varied widely, although a portrait of the reigning emperor is almost always present on the obverse of the coin. Approximate date: ca. 31 B.C. through ca. A.D. 294

 

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No shock, was a matter of time.

Just never ends.

 

We can donate to the ACCG and support Wayne Sayles!
Is there anything else that we should be doing to protect our right to collect ancient coins?

 

Bury them in your back yard. Bring them out only under cover of darkness.

 

Is it more or less restrictive in the U.K., Pishpash?

 

I think those of us who are collectors in the US need to start thinking about new strategies. I support the ACCG myself but obviously the CPAC doesn't particularly care about the stance of the ACCG or collectors when we write to oppose new restrictions, since responses are always overwhelmingly opposed to new restrictions when they ask for comments. I am not sure what the answer is but I think it's going to require us to fight for actual legislative change rather than just asking nicely for CPAC to not pass further restrictions.

For my part I'm going to look into what it would take to get together with a few other collectors from my area and schedule discussions with our Senators and Representatives. I would like to see an amendment made to the CPIA that forces source countries to put into place a system similar to the British PAS before any new import restrictions or extensions can be discussed and also puts the onus on source countries and/or customs to prove that particular antiquities are looted rather than the current system of forcing collectors to prove that they aren't which goes completely against the spirit of the fourth amendment in the US.

 

I read the download but did not understand it (unsurprising). Perhaps I missed it but it didn't say when the restrictions begin and if there are exceptions, such as "out of ground before 19XX".

Is this just a continuation of a prior MOU or is it truly new, with tighter restrictions? Regardless, I am of course concerned and would like more information. I don't see an update on ACCG's website or on Peter Tompa's blog (other than this link to a blurb which provided no additional details).

At what point do I need to worry about owning coins of Roman Egypt? Do I need to remove them from my website and never show them on CoinTalk??

 

The document has a placeholder for the effective date which I assume will be the date that it is fully published in the Federal Register, which should effectively be interpreted as now or within the next few days. Essentially the types of artifacts listed in the document "will be restricted from entry into the United States unless the conditions set forth in 19 U.S.C. 2606 and § 12.104c of the CBP regulations (19 CFR 12.104c) are met"(see page 4 of the PDF). You can read the full text of the conditions here.

 

Thanks, @red_spork. I'll still need an interpretation from someone who speaks legalese, but if understand the link you sent, going forward coins eligible for US ownership have to be proven to have been exported from Egypt ten or more years before the date of the agreement.

That's going to be a problem

 

Not US ownership, just US import. If a coin is already in the US that's A-OK. Also it's not 10 years before the agreement, it's 10 years before the current date OR any time before the agreement. I would certainly like to hear this confirmed by someone fluent in legalese as well though.

 

Ask @Sallent. He's one of those bottom feeders.

 

Provenance is going to be everything in the not too distant future.
@Deacon Ray I am not sure what the current MOUs are in the UK, I will have to look them up.

 

The MOU would induce us to hide our Alexandrian coins in a deep ground

 

Who has true legal right? The People who minted the coin or the People who live where the coin was minted? Under this type of legislation, shouldn't all coins minted during the Ptolemaic Era be exported to Macedon? The land is just the land; the People hold the history, and Ptolemy was not Egyptian. These types of restrictions defeat their own purpose. Where does the ethnic ownership begin or end?

Another thought: I don't think, given the types of "Springs" we've been having in this part of the world, if it's the best idea to have any type of historical property that doesn't line up with a certain Theocratic Philosophy, accessible to the Public in this region. The coins, for now, are safer abroad. Khaled Assad would agree, if he were still alive.

 

This bottom feeder's non-legalese 'Actual Human Speech' version of this:

All Egyptian coins being imported to the US now require a permit from the country they are being imported from, or a sworn statement from a local official stating that this material is legal to own in whatever country this Egyptian coin is being imported from (example: If coin is coming from Germany, then a Sworn Statement or Permit from a Local German official that the Egyptian coin is legal to own in Germany and ownership is in compliance of German Law).

Furthermore, there needs to be a verified statement of sorts from the consignor that the coin was not acquired from Egypt less than 10 years prior to the entry of the coin into the U.S., or if the date the material was acquired from Egypt is not known, a statement that the consignor has no reason to believe this material runs afoul of the 10 year ban on sale and import into the U.S., and that the sale or contract for the material (coin) to be imported occurred less than 1 year prior to the entry of the material into the US (that last part doesn't make sense, I think I might have to read the entire law to put that into a proper context), or otherwise actual proof presented that the material was not acquired from Egypt less than 10 years prior to entry in the US.

I don't think we'll be seeing any new coin finds ever come out of Egypt, legally anyway. I'm sure someone will still smuggle them out and eventually some dealer will buy them unknowingly in Europe as being outside of Egypt for 10 years or more, and get a permit to export...but it will definitely slow the flow of Egyptian coins into the US tremendously.

 

Will the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York be court ordered to return their ancient Egyptian collection?

 

I'm ordering all of my coins from dealers in Israel because they include a signed and sealed copy of an Israel Antiquities Authority Export License. It can be a slow process. I'm still waiting for a coin that I purchased in September.

 

The way things are going politically, it will soon be cultural appropriation to own anything from any non-Western country (even if the item has been out of that country for hundreds of years or more) and we will all have to gather and ship everything back to these countries where the material will be promptly destroyed by radical terrorists as an abomination to whatever they believe in, and humanity will be robbed of that part of human history.

Look at what's happening in Syria and to a lesser extent in Egypt, all these materials are being targeted for destruction by certain groups and the local authorities are unwilling or unable to stop it. If we have to send anything we have here back, there might never be anything tangible from these ancient cultures to hold (after it all gets destroyed) except for some old pictures.

 

Whatever gets sent back to any of these countries will be for sale on the local black market the next week.

US ancient collectors need to at least support ACCG. There are much worse laws being considered than just import restrictions.

 

From what I gather and from what others have said, it doesn't sound like anything will get sent back-- just that going forward many coins will be off limits to US collectors. Collectors in many other countries can still buy the coins.

It looks like a purely political move by the US. "Oh, look how virtuous we are! Look at how concerned we are with cultural heritage!"

I wonder what hidden benefits the US government gains from such agreements. There must be more to it than meets the eye.