The U.S. Mint’s recent campaign to impound the Ron Paul Liberty Dollar as an unlawful impingement on the circulation of American currency may be garnering all the coin-related headlines. But serious coin collectors are monitoring a far lower-profile numismatic flap. Three coin-collecting associations — the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild, the International Association of ProfessionalNumismatists and the Professional Numismatists Guild — filed suit earlier this month against the State Department to protest its move in July to restrict imports of ancient coins from the island nation of Cyprus.

The suit, now pending in federal court in Washington, invokes the Freedom of Information Act in an effort to compel State to disclose the documentary record of the decision. Read Full Story