Pantego, Texas - Dealers, collectors and law enforcement have a free resource to assist in the investigation of crimes related to coins, paper money, tokens and medals. The Numismatic Crime Information Center.

“NCIC maintains the largest database of numismatic crimes and provides dealers, collectors and law enforcement with the data, tools and resources to assist in addressing the complexities of a numismatic investigation”, said Doug Davis with the Pantego police department and a recognized expert in numismatic investigations.

Numismaticcrimes.org is the world’s leading resource on numismatic crime investigations and was created to give law enforcement and victims a free and easy to use system to fight numismatic related offenses.

NCIC assists victims during the investigative process and provides law enforcement agencies with technical and investigative support in order to develop effective case strategies and successful outcomes.

The goal of NCIC is, simply, to provide support and create new and enhanced resources for law enforcement and regulatory agencies to use in the fight against numismatic crime- a fight that must involve not only all levels of law enforcement in this country and abroad but also the entire numismatic community.

The Numismatic Crime Information Center is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation (more…)

By Wayne Sayles - Ancient Coin Collecting

Anyone who pays the slightest attention to Washington doings can hardly avoid being struck by the operatic nature of governance. It may be humorous or tragic, by turns, but it can also be mysterious. How do rather consequential things happen? Better yet, who makes them happen? These are ageless questions that have inspired countless authors and playwrights—not to mention political analysts and lobbyists. The Ancient Coin Collecting community is no stranger to the sometimes bizarre world of Washington politics, where the largest cast and most Machiavellian plots are routinely encountered at the U.S. State Department.

It may strike some as humorous that an innocuous group like coin collectors can find themselves pitted against the Hydra of bureaucracy—an event of almost mythical character and proportions. But, not to be outdone by the Greeks, the DOS Hydra is also invisible! Rarely do the State Department and the Defense Department share techniques, but the cloaking of bureaucrats in Foggy Bottom bears all of the characteristics of invisible paint camouflage—making their actions unobservable to the radar of the public and the press. This invisible shield has been recognized for at least a decade, though getting a clear picture is obviously a challenge. The late Steven Vincent, in Art and Auction (March, 2002) labeled Maria Kouroupas, at the State Department’s Cultural Heritage Center as a “Stealth Fighter” who is “Washington’s smart weapon in its shadowy war on collecting antiquities.”

The cloaking of DOS bureaucrats has become readily apparent through (the lack of) documents released in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the numismatic community. In 2007, the State Department negotiated an agreement with the government of Cyprus to restrict the importation of ancient Cypriot coins into the United States. Though a landmark decision, in the sense that no previous Memorandum of Agreement (including an earlier one with Cyprus) had ever included a restriction on coins, this decision was apparently made in a vacuum. (more…)

Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. announced that the Republic of Peru filed a motion in federal court in one of the company’s pending admiralty cases. As anticipated after numerous statements in the media, Peru formally filed a Verified Conditional Claim in the “Black Swan” admiralty case, which was originally filed by Odyssey Marine Exploration. The case is currently pending before the U.S. District Court in Tampa, Florida.

“Odyssey’s position is to encourage every appropriate claimant to present its potential claims in a case like this, so we welcome Peru’s filing, even as the Company reserves its legal position. If the court does not find that the property was abandoned, we believe that the property in the “Black Swan” case would be handled under the traditional law of salvage,” said Greg Stemm, Odyssey Chief Executive Officer.

The nature of a salvage award is that the award to the salvor is not dependent upon the number of claimants. Claimants other than the salvor must either enter into an agreement amongst themselves to split the owner’s percentage of a find or submit their individual claims to the court for adjudication. For instance, in the case of the Central America, an award of 92% of the cargo was made to the salvor, and the remaining 8% was held in trust while various insurance companies were given the opportunity to present their respective claims.

“We believe that Peru’s filing raises a significant and timely question relating to whether a former colonial power or the colonized indigenous peoples should receive the cultural and financial benefit of underwater cultural heritage derived from the previously colonized nations. Odyssey would be pleased to involve Peru in the study and archaeological investigation of any property that is found to have originated in Peru, without regard for whether Peru has any legal rights to the property. We would also be pleased to extend the same courtesy to any other sovereign government, indigenous people, relatives or descendants who might have a legitimate claim or interest in property discovered on any of Odyssey’s shipwrecks,” Mr. Stemm added.

According to reports the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation will net as much as $54.9 Million, after expenses, from the divestment of assets sold off from the infamous rare-coin fund managed by Tom Noe.

The Toledo Blade reported that “after more than three years of liquidation, the agency is set to recoup more than the $50 million the state agency fronted former Toledo-area rare-coin dealer Tom Noe to manage the venture beginning in 1998. But the surplus deviates vastly from the $14 million or more in profit the bureau could have earned if it invested the money conservatively in money markets, government bills, or index funds, according to projections by the BWC’s investment department.”

The report was unclear if the total recovery figure, or the estimates of potential profit, included dispersements previously made by Noe during the time the fund was still under his control.

Bill Brandt, whose Chicago-based firm Development Specialists Inc was hired by the state to lead the state’s liquidation efforts, said the fact that the coin fund will return its principal doesn’t let Noe off the hook.

“I’ve heard people say, ‘Well, you’ve returned all the principal, so maybe Noe wasn’t guilty,’•” said Mr. Brandt, the CEO of Development Specialists Inc. “Well, there’s $13 million to $18 million worth of interest missing here. This was used as a personal piggy bank. People have blinders on.”

He added, “Getting the principal back is a watershed event because it normally does not happen. We’ve got to consider ourselves measurably lucky that we did that.”

Starting in June, 2005, Brandt began selling off collections of coins and other rare collectibles, and negotiating settlements to lawsuits.

The bureau recently sold stock in Numismatic Guaranty Corporation, a Florida-based coin grading company, for $7.6 million.

Actually the fund has now returned more than just the original $50 million principal. In fact according to the bureau estimates the gross recovery amount was over 60 Million with projecting net proceeds of $53.5 million to $54.9 million from the coin funds after deducting at least $6.2 million in expenses. The expenses so far consist of $1.2 millions in settlements and $4.6 million in professional services, including $2.4 million for Development Specialists Inc. (more…)