CNG Position on House Bill
 

This is a copy of the email CNG sent out

Fellow Numismatists:

Following the surprise Senate passage of a bill in early March, you are
urged to FAX your Congressman and Senators concerning legislation that
could destroy ancient and foreign coin collecting in the US! The issue of
import restrictions on Iraqi archaeological items was first raised last
year in the wake of highly exaggerated reports about extensive looting at
the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. After some months when the issue moved to the
background, the impending turn over of sovereignty to Iraq has again
brought the issue to the fore.

On March 4, 2004, the Senate passed legislation as part of a miscellaneous
trade bill (H.R. 1047: Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act
of 2004)) that authorizes the executive branch to impose import
restrictions on artifacts of potential Iraqi origin. The bill was first
introduced as S.1291 last year by Senator Grassley of Iowa, Chairman of
the Senate Finance Committee. Because this was part of a broad trade bill,
there was no chance for hearings nor for any interested parties to make
any public comments.

The bill will allow the executive branch to impose import restrictions on
coins without a hearing even though the President's experts on the
Cultural Property Advisory Committee ("CPAC") recommended against imposing
such restrictions on coins on two separate occasions in the past (in
response to requests by Italy and Cyprus).

No coins are missing from the Iraq Museum in Baghdad and reports of recent
looting in the countryside do not appear to focus on coins. Nevertheless,
under the guise of an "emergency condition," the Senate bill threatens to
allow Customs to detain and seize coins merely because they were of a type
that potentially circulated in Iraq. An impossible burden will be placed
on the importer to prove the negative-- that the coins in question did not
come from Iraq. Import restrictions will place a cloud on the title to
hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of historical coins that were
never Iraqi archaeological material.

The language of the bill is so broad that it could create a situation in
which Customs could seize and detain a shipment of coins that MIGHT have
originated in Iraq in the sole opinion of a Customs official. The burden
of proof would then be on the importer to prove that the coins in the
shipment DID NOT originate in Iraq (that they were neither struck nor
discovered there). Since coins have passed easily across borders for
millennia (in ancient times as currency and in modern times as
collectibles), it would be virtually impossible to prove that a particular
coin had NOT been in Iraq.

The numismatic effect of the proposed legislation would be to stifle the
legitimate collecting and study of coins. Museums, dealers, and collectors
would all be affected. We urge that this legislation be opposed in its
current form.

The House is considering its own version of the measure. While the
sponsors of the legislation in the House have been sympathetic to coin
collectors, the exact wording of their own bill remains in flux.

Time is of the essence!

You can make a difference!

Please fax your comments to your elected representatives.

Fax is the preferred method of communication as mail is delayed and often
damaged due to procedures in place in Congress since the anthrax scare.

Follow these links for contact information:

House:

http://www.house.gov/

Senate:

http://www.senate.gov/


If you are able to do so, you should also fax your comments to the
following interested decision makers:

Senator Charles Grassley: fax: 202-224-6020; website email form:
grassley.senate.gov/webform.htm
Senator Max Baucus: fax: 202-224-4700; website email form:
baucus.senate.gov/emailmax.html
Representative William Thomas: email: ; fax:
202-225-8798
Representative Charles Rangel: fax: 202-225-0816; website:
www.house.gov/rangel
Representative Phil English: fax: 202-225-3103; website:
www.house.gov/english
Representative Phil Crane: fax: 202-225-7830; website: www.house.gov/crane
Representative Sander Levin: fax 202-226-1033; email:

Representative Jim Leach: email: ; fax:
202-226-1278
Stephen Schaeffer, Senate Finance Committee: fax: 202-228-0554
David Kavanaugh, House Ways and Means Committee: fax: 202-226-0158
Miller Crouch, US State Department: fax: 202-203-5116
Betsy Durant, US Customs: fax:202-927-1096
Maria Kouroupas, US State Department Cultural Property: fax 202-619-5177


Faxes to Grassley, Baucus, Thomas, Crane, English and Leach are the most
important.

If you do not wish to write your own letter, you may reply to this email
and
ask for two sample letters that may be printed out, signed and faxed. In
any event, thanks for rising to the challenge!

Sincerely,

Classical Numismatic Group, Inc.