New import restrictions on widely circulating Carthaginian and other ancient, medieval, and early modern coins up to 1750, are in place, since July 22.

The restrictions also implicitly include the cultural heritage of Tunisia’s displaced Jewish minority population, and even rope, according to the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild, which has been sounding the alarm, and pushing back on these and other restrictions for more than a decade. At the same time the ACCG is alerting collectors and dealers to these new restrictions, it is asking U.S. citizens to reach out to their Member of Congress to ask them to cosponsor HR 7865, which would make it easier to import coins already on the ever-expanding number of overlapping designated lists.

New restrictions

The list of coins restricted as of July 22, 2024, includes coins of Numidian, Carthaginian (sometimes called Punic), Roman provincial, Vandal, Byzantine, Islamic, Norman, and Ottoman types that circulated primarily in Tunisia, ranging in date from the fifth century B.C. to A.D. 1750.

Numidian, Roman provincial, and Vandal coins were made primarily in bronze, though some Numidian and Vandal types occur also in silver.

Carthaginian types occur in electrum, a natural pale yellow alloy of gold and silver. Local Byzantine and later coin types were made in copper, bronze, silver, and gold. Coins may be square or round, have writing, and show imagery of animals, buildings, symbols, or royal figures.

The State Department’s website gives advanced notice of Cultural Property Advisory Committee Meetings to discuss new cultural property Memorandums of Understanding with Lebanon and Mongolia and a renewal with El Salvador.

Fighting future restrictions

The ever increasing advance of such MOUs is one reason the ACCG is asking collectors and dealers that are U.S. citizens to seek support from their Congressperson for a bill that would amend the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act, to make certain technical corrections to facilitate the lawful trade and collecting of numismatic materials.

The bill was introduced April 2 in the House of Representatives, with Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) as the lead sponsor.

The ACCG has created a three-step plan for people to contact a representative, and directions are found at www.accguild.org/HR-7865.

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