Hi I'm just wondering if anyone on here would know the laws requarding the buying/selling of ancient coins in any of the following countries -turkey -greece -italy -france -spain -UK I would like to do some shopping for some ancient coins while there but have hear that the laws there can restrict the actual sale of legitimate ancient coins? yet they are allowed to sell fakes or knock offs of incredible quality without being fined. So if you have any previous experience reguarding this I'd love to hear from you thanks in advance
No problem with the UK unless you are talking realy special one of a kind coins, then you would need a export licence otherwise no problem. Turkey, Greece I know have laws that prohibit the export of antiquities and I believe that the US customs has agreed to ban the importing of said antiquaties from certain countries. Dont know about France, Spain or Italy with refference to the US, I live in the UK and there is no problem for me buying from those countries.
The only country I know of that you may have problems with is Cyprus. I've bought from France, Italy, the UK, and Germany without any problems.
alrighty thank you that helps alot I live in canada so I think I can by pass some of those laws (US customs) and bring some stuff back with me. I have a few more days to figure out what I can and cannot bring back and I'm sure the people on the cruise ship will be able 2 inform me if i cannot find something reguarding it lol if not its really gonna suck having my coins taken from me at the airport/customs
Don't buy any "ancient" coins in Turkey, even ones you know are fake, and try to take them out of the country. You may have a "Midnight Express" experience.
ha alrighty duely noted willie thank you so I can still purchase from Italy, France, Spain and the UK safely and I'll have to further look into the laws surrounding Greece:thumb:
I was not making a joke. There was an American woman tourist who was on a cruise ship which stopped near an ancient port in Turkey. She bought a stone head from a kid, she knew it was a fake. The Turkish police arrested her, claimed that the head was a real antique, and she spent a long time in a Turkish womens prison. The case even became a movie with actress Lee Remick in it.
I didn't take it as a joke I realize that some countries such as turkey are very very strict reguarding their antiquities(sp) so i wouldn't even consider buying from there but I do thank you for your concern I'll be sure to avoid any such objects while visiting there
just London mainly because on the way to Florence we stop over but only to change flights so no time to really go look but on the way back i have nearly a day to look around before I head back to canada so I might have an hour or so to browse for coins while i'm there
Let me know and I will tell you were to go LOL I live on the outskirts of London, very good coin shop by the British Museum
ha thats awesome well it'll be near the end of july probably around the 13th-14th so like a sat/sunday is the store open then? Also what do they charge generaly for some of their more common roman coins in VF-20 to EF-40 condition? but yeah if u could give me rough directions that be amazing
There are ways around it, if the seller knows how to do it. I've spoken with several sellers in India who told me they could get around customs and ship to me, but they had to do certain things in order to accomplish it. Ribbit Ps: It is similar to sending cash to Europe. I've purchased several coins in Europe from sellers that didn't take PayPal so I sent cash, but they told me to wrap it in aluminum foil. I guess the postal sensors can pick up cash in an envelope but if you wrap it in aluminum foil, it fools the sensors. I'm not sure why it matters, but there's something up with U.S. currency going through the mail in Europe. Maybe someone can fill us in on this? Ribbit-Ribbit-Ribbit
But that is a somewhat different scenario. If you travel to Turkey, you should not buy ancient coins there; they may be confiscated when you want to leave the country, and you may actually go to prison. If a local dealer tells you that an old coin you are interested in is actually a replica and thus you can get it cheap, beware: Maybe it's not a replica (and then, see above), or it is one - but then you may still have to go through a lot of hassle. What is fairly safe, from what I know, in terms of antiquities is to buy a replica from a government run museum. You can then get an official certificate about the "identity" of what you bought. Now whether that is worth it, I don't know. Many postal carriers or parcel services do not allow sending cash via plain regular mail ... Christian
Chrisild - are you saying that a vendor will sell a real coin as a replica? Completely ridiculous. (But hypothetically possible) But you are absolutely right that even if the coin/artifact is a replica, customs will still trouble you about it.
well from the research I've done it appears that those countries with trade laws that prohibit the sales of ancient artifacts and coins do not have a law about selling replicas to tourist who think they are real (turkey,greece) And that Italy may be considering a ban as well in which case any coins they consider to be from their country can be confiscated and returned to them at any time with no rembursment to the owner/collector...which would really suck
Hi, In Bulgaria there is the rules i think and when i was there to see grandma i took so many coins with me but i had to put them between my change for the flight to Australia I have been to Turkey many times metal detecting and found a couple of there silver aches. Bring back the coins to Bulgaria was not a problem i just put them in my wallet which was a pouch around my waist and it worked and for the metal detector that was in the SUV under the back seats there was a storage place which i used to put it in. i use to Night Hawk so much there and in Bulgaria finding mainly silver and for the main part i never got told anything about my coins that were in my pouch between my change. Regards, Rado
interesting idea mind you I do plan to pick up silver pieces mainly and they can be rather brittle after 1000+years lol so I'm not to sure how i feel about putting them into my wallet but it is def an idea thank you
