I just recieved this email, and have sent a fax. Hopefully many of you will do the same in order to protect our hobby.
Fellow Coin Collectors,
January 25th, 2007 may well go down in the annals of numismatic
history as the
Pearl Harbor of the
Cultural Property War. When the U.S. Department of State
posted a notice in the Federal Register that
renewal of the import restrictions on
cultural property from
Cyprus would be
considered,
Peter K. Tompa (
Ancient Coin Collectors Guild President) addressed
the following concern in a letter to the Bureau of Educational and Cultural
Affairs (ECA). "It is unclear from the notice whether new import restrictions on
coins will be considered in the context of this hearing to determine whether
current restrictions on other archaeological and ethnological artifacts will be
extended." Coins
had been exempted from restrictions in the initial agreement
five years ago. A reply from the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
at ECA stated that "the Department anticipates consideration of extension of the
agreement as it currently exists with respect to the categories of material." In
other words, coins were not added to
the list of restricted items being considered.
In my capacity as
ACCG Executive Director, I then sent a letter to the Cultural
Property Advisory
Committee stating that since coins were not to be included,
the
ACCG would not take a position on the request and would not appear in person
to comment during the public hearing. In other words, a quid
pro quo. I was not
advised of any change in
position. On January 26th, the day after the public hearing,
ACCG received the
following notice from ECA. "On 25 and 26 January, 2007, the
Cultural PropertyAdvisory
Committee met to onsider extending the bilateral agreement between the
Government of the
United States and the Government of the Republic of
Cyprus.
Shortly before that meeting,
Cyprus submitted a request through normal
diplomatic channels to amend the Designated List of its cultural materials for
which importation is already restricted. The proposal is to include in the
Designated List coins minted and found in
Cyprus that are more than 250 years
old." This action is a shocking disappointment. It further undermines
ACCGconfidence in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs that has eroded
over two years of struggling with constant stonewalling and departmental
secrecy. Sandbagging a legitimate nonprofit advocacy group, to circumvent an
effective defense of its position, is a tactic
that sinks to a level that is intolerable. In an effort to diffuse the
inevitable outrage, ECA has reopened the window for comment to run through the
close of business on Monday, February 6. If ever there was cause for comment, it
is now. This
request, if approved, will not only affect
ancient coins from
Cyprus, but
virtually all
Medieval and early modern coins. Worse, restrictions would set an
irreversible precedent. The aggression of
cultural property nationalists knows
no limits and there is no room left in the collecting world for complacency.
Every collector simply must take the time to comment. The best method is by Fax
to
202-453-8803. Address your comments to Mr. Jay I. Kislak, Chairman, Cultural
Property Advisory
Committee. Please be specific and be polite. The
ACCG provides
a free online Fax service for this purpose at
http://accg.us If you avail
yourself of that service, a
choice of sample letters will be offered or you can
create your own text in any
standard browser. The process is fast, easy and meaningful. Our goal for this
campaign is 1,000 individual comments to CPAC. We will need every single
collector's cooperation. If you can't figure out how to comment or what to say,
send a note to me at director@
accg.us for suggestions.
Become an activist, spread the word and encourage all of your friends to
comment. This is not a practice drill.
With best regards and
hope for the future of our hobby,
Wayne
Wayne G. Sayles
Executive Director,
ACCGdirector@
accg.us