AMERICAN antiques collectors could soon regain the right to trade freely in ancient Cypriot coins, it emerged this week.

This news follows a row over the import and sale of ancient coins in the US, after customs officials seized USD $275 worth of coins minted in Cyprus and China.

Asked about the coins, Maria Hadjicostis, Director of the Antiquities Department, said yesterday, “Loss of antiquities is a problem, and from a legal perspective, we treat coins just like any antiquities. There is no difference.”

Asked about their value, she said, “There is not much financial value in antiquities, but the coins are not just money.

“They are important archaeological items, because they can be accurately dated and used for historical study.”

Hadjicostis said it was impossible to say how many ancient Cypriot coins were currently on the international market.

The 23 coins, of which seven were minted in Cyprus during the reign of Alexander the Great, were allegedly bought from a dealer in London by an American coin collectors group, the Ancient Coin Collectors’ Guild (ACCG)

Baltimore customs officials seized the coins because of bilateral Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with China and Cyprus to restrict the sale of cultural property.

Upon signing the MOU, Former Director of Cyprus’ Department of Antiquities, Pavlos Flourenzos told the organisation Saving Antiquities for Everyone (SAFE), “This act shows sensitivity to the importance of preserving world cultural heritage, a principle highly esteemed by the international scientific community.”

According to US law, customs officials were therefore required to bring forfeiture action, which the collectors could challenge by producing the coins’ sale history, or “provenance”.

The ACCG did not produce a provenance, and could not demonstrate that they had come from a reputable source so US Customs retained the coins for nine months. ACCG is now suing both Customs and the US State Department (DOS), who signed the MOU, for arbitrarily applying import restrictions on ancient coins and taking the coins without filing forfeiture action.

The ACCG said in a press release last week “after behind-the-scenes lobbying orchestrated by Cypriot advocacy groups, the DOS failed to follow the recommendations of its own experts on the Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) by extending restrictions to Cypriot coins, and then misled Congress about this decision.”

If the court decides in the favour and declares that the restrictions are illegal, the coins will be returned and sales imports can continue.

The guild told Baltimore’s Courthouse News Service last week, “The Guild says customs seized the coins because it could not establish a chain of custody beyond receipt from a reputable source.

“Historical coins have actively been traded for at least 500 years as collectibles. Due to their usual modest value and the huge numbers extant, historical coins are typically traded without any provenance information or documentary history as to where and when they were found.”