GAINESVILLE, Mo. — A small packet of inexpensive Chinese and Cypriot coins imported from England by the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild (ACCG) have been seized by Customs in Baltimore, Maryland.

The coins were imported to test the legitimacy of State Department (DOS) imposed import restrictions via two Memoranda of Understanding (MOU).

ACCG maintains that actions of DOS relating to implementation of the Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA) have been secretive, arbitrary and capricious and will contest the seizure in the U.S. Federal District Court in Baltimore.

Information from another Freedom of Information Act lawsuit suggests that the DOS failed to follow the recommendations of its own experts on the Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) in extending restrictions to Cypriot coins, and then misled Congress about this decision. Other information implicates DOS bureaucrats adding coins to the Chinese MOU even though Chinese officials never asked for their inclusion. Read the rest of this entry »

An acquisition fund managed by a committee of the ACCG will help small museums in England and Wales to retain local finds under the Treasure Act.

A newly formed Ancient Coin Collectors Guild Museum Fund has been established to help provide funding to small museums in England and Wales that wish to purchase local finds of ancient coins offered to them in accordance with provisions of the Treasure Act.

Many small museums have inadequate find purchasing budgets and although there are schemes such the Headley Trust which might award a portion of the price for purchases of ₤500 or more, amounts lower than this must be entirely raised by the local museum. If the museum fails to raise the money, the coins might be purchased by a larger museum and leave the area where they were found. Local museums will place such finds on display to be enjoyed by the local population. Read the rest of this entry »

The ACCG has launched phase two of a coordinated plan to challenge import restrictions on ancient coins.

As a British Airways jetliner touched down in Baltimore on April 15th , many U.S. citizens were busy writing last minute checks to the IRS. In the face of mounting global crises, they could hardly have anticipated that some of their tax dollars would be used by the U.S. State Department (DOS) to wage an ideological war against coin collectors. 

Part of the cargo of BA 229/16 that day was a small packet of 23 very common, inexpensive, Cypriot and Chinese coins being imported by a collector advocacy group, the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild (ACCG).  The entry of these coins, forbidden by DOS under bilateral agreements with Cyprus and China, marked the launch of a test case to determine whether the State Department has banned their importation properly under a 1983 law dealing with the protection of cultural property. Read the rest of this entry »

A dig site where 22 ancient coins inscribed with Cleopatra’s name, an alabaster mask fragment resembling Mark Antony, and 10 mummies were discovered suggest Cleopatra’s lost tomb may be within reach, according to Egypt’s chief archeologist, Zahi Hawass.

Archaeologist found the coins and mask last year when excavating a 2,300 year-old temple built by Ptolemy II. The recent cemetery discoveries led to underground radar revealing three “important anomalies.”

The evidence has convinced Hawass that someone important is buried within temple, and possibly the famous lovers.

"We think this is really a perfect place for Cleopatra and Mark Antony to be hidden," Hawass said.

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Published on the Federal Register and brought to light through the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild (ACCG), new U.S. import restrictions have been imposed on many ancient Chinese coins and other artifacts.

The Federal Register, which is the official source for notices by government agencies, published the State Department’s final rule that amends U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations to impose import restrictions on the following Chinese coins:

Zhou Media of Exchange and Tool-shaped Coins: Early media of exchange include bronze spades, bronze knives, and cowrie shells. During the 6th century BC, flat, simplified, and standardized cast bronze versions of spades appear and these constitute China’s first coins. Other coin shapes appear in bronze including knives and cowrie shells. These early coins may bear inscriptions.

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Dallas, TX – Heritage Auction Galleries has just posted prices realized approaching $7 million on its Signature Auction of Ancient and World Coins, held as an official auction of the New York International Numismatic Convention in New York City (NYINC).

At the conclusion of sales of Post Auction Buys and non-floor session material (ending Jan. 13), total prices Realized are expected to well exceed $7 million. This was the lead event in a week of Heritage auctions that will see more than 18,000 lots of rare coins and currency valued above $50 million sold in New York City and Orlando, Florida. Prices realized information on all auctions can be found at www.HA.com. 

"This auction, Heritage’s seventh Official NYINC event at the Waldorf-Astoria, featured nearly 3000 lots of ancient and world coins from 225+ consignors," said Warren Tucker, Heritage’s Director of World Coin Auctions. "This could well be our most valuable auction ever of ancient and world coins. Our prior record of $7,157,933 was set only last year at our June Long Beach Signature Auction, so this will be very close. It speaks well of the strength of the world coin market and our global marketing outreach wherever the final numbers fall." Read the rest of this entry »

The Israel Antiquities Authority in late December announced the discovery of 264 ancient gold coins in Jerusalem National Park. The find was described as "one of the largest and most impressive coin hoards ever discovered in Jerusalem."

British archaeologist volunteer, Nadine Ross, uncovered the ancient coins at an excavation site and within the ruins of a 7th century building near the Old City. She had been at the site for a month and found the coins in the last week of her visit. Read the rest of this entry »

A Hoard Comprising Hundreds of Gold Coins was Uncovered in the Excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority is Conducting at the ‘Giv’ati Car Park’ in the City of David, in the Walls Around Jerusalem National Park.

One thousand three hundred year old Chanukah money in Jerusalem: a hoard of more than 250 gold coins was exposed Sunday in the excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority is conducting in the Giv ‘ati car park in the City of David, in the Walls Around Jerusalem National Park.

The excavations at the site are being carried out on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, in cooperation with the Nature and Parks Authority and are underwritten by the ‘Ir David Foundation.

Since the archaeological excavations began there about two years ago, they have not ceased in providing us with surprising discoveries that shed new light on different chapters of the city’s past. Currently a very large and impressive building is being uncovered that dates to about the seventh century CE (end of the Byzantine period-beginning of the Umayyad period). A large cache of 264 coins, all made of gold, was discovered among the ruins of the building.

According to Dr. Doron Ben-Ami and Yana Tchekhanovets, directors of the excavation at the site on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, "Since no pottery vessel was discovered adjacent to the hoard, we can assume that it was concealed inside a hidden niche in one of the walls of the building. It seems that with its collapse, the coins piled up there among the building debris."

Ben-Ami and Tchekhanovets believe, "This is one of the largest and most impressive coin hoards ever discovered in Jerusalem – certainly the largest and most important of its period."

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A teacher who enjoys metal detecting as a "meditative hobby" discovered a treasure trove of ancient Celtic coins in a cornfield in the southern Dutch city of Maastricht.

"It’s exciting, like a little boy’s dream," Paul Curfs said after his discovery was made public.

Curfs experienced a fair amount of luck too, considering he was about to quit for the day when he heard the hit. The 70 silver and 39 gold coins found were struck in the middle of the first century B.C., according to archaeologists.

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Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) announced on Wednesday the creation of a new division and a series of services for attributing and grading ancient coins that will kick-off on January 1, 2009.

David Vagi, author of Coinage and History of the Roman Empire, will lead the division entitled NGC Ancients, which NGC says will certify "most coins struck in the Western World through circa A.D. 500, as well as coins of the Byzantine Empire."

"I’m thrilled to join NGC at a critical moment in the growth of the ancient coin market. The marketplace and third-party grading have both matured in such a way to make an ancients program not only possible, but necessary," said Vagi, Grading Finalizer and Director of NGC Ancients.

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