Hi folks,
I figured that I would keep everyone posted regarding this situation.
Just to refresh everyone's memory, I won a coin in an
Italian auction in September 2020, and I paid for it at that time. It is a
Campania, Cales AE MFB coin with unpublished
symbols.
Nick Molinari was very interested in this coin, and he wanted to write an academic article featuring it.
Earlier this week, I received an email from that
Italian dealer informing me that
his second attempt at obtaining an export license for this coin (from a branch of Italy's Cultural Ministry located in a different city) has failed. The
Italian government has rejected the application a second time. Additionally, the
Italian government didn't just reject the application for my coin, but it rejected every application for every coin from that
auction sold to collectors outside
Italy.
We exhausted all options, and the dealer refunded my
money yesterday (via Paypal, which is how I paid him back in September 2020).
This
Italian dealer informed me that this rejection came from headquarters in
Rome (he is not located in
Rome). He also informed me that Italy's export restriction rules changed in January 2021, and those restrictions got much more restrictive. Additionally, he informed me that, because of this situation, he will no longer be offering
ancient coins for sale in
his future
auctions. Going forward, he will only be
selling Medieval and modern coins.
In an email exchange with me earlier this week, one of the co-owners of this business kept repeatedly referring to this rejection as a "shameful situation".
A different dealer in
Italy has informed me that he can no longer ship coins outside of
Italy.
Meepzorp