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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Paul M., post: 3790900, member: 73165&quot;]The easiest way to see how ridiculous some of these laws are is to pretend they apply to US “cultural property.”</p><p><br /></p><p>Rightly speaking, there are a few artifacts that are so American, they should never leave this country so long as they both exist: original drafts of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, the Liberty Bell, the gun that shot Abraham Lincoln, original notes from Thoreau’s time at Walden Pond, etc.</p><p><br /></p><p>But, to say “everything made in America over 100+ years ago” has somehow acquired enough significance that it should be repatriated is ridiculous. What “cultural significance” has a random Indian Head cent, for example? Or an antique desk? Or any number of workaday items? And coins, being tokens of commerce, are really the ultimate workaday items.</p><p><br /></p><p>Coin finds should be documented, yes, but that doesn’t mean the coins need to live in some museum, or to never leave the country they were found in. Granted, there might be a few numismatic exceptions, such as the Roman coins found, IIRC, in Japan a few years ago. But, by and large, coins don’t actually <i>mean</i> much, historically speaking. To say otherwise is simply baffling to me.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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