By Wayne Sayles from his Blog on Ancient Coin Collecting

Cultural property nationalists have a habit of tossing up the UNESCO Convention of 1970 on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property as some inviolable international law. I personally know of two instances in the past year where U.S. Customs agents used the UNESCO convention as an authority to detain cultural property being legally imported into the United States.

In both cases, after a simple explanation of the nature of the resolution resulting from that convention, and the U.S. law that implements parts of that resolution, the citing of that convention as an authority was dropped.

In a civil complaint (Case 1:08-cv-02109-HHK) filed in District Court at Washington, DC last week by the Republic of Peru against Yale University, this same charge was made: “Yale’s conduct violates numerous multinational conventions and treaties concerning the protection of cultural property, such as the 1970 UNESCO Convention….”

The merit or lack of merit in this case aside, it ought to be clear to anyone (especially lawyers filing a cultural property suit) that no individual or institution can “violate” the UNESCO Convention. The convention, and its consequent resolution, have no authority and no basis for enforcement.

The law that implements parts of that resolution in the United States (The Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act) is far different than the implementing laws of other nations who have signed the resolution. Only the provisions outlined in CPIA have authority in the United States. Therefore, we must look to this law and related international agreements for guidance on how to deal with perceived transgressions. (more…)

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…)