December 8, 2011 – The State Department has imposed broad import restrictions on Greek Cultural Artifacts including all ancient coins struck in Greece. Here comes the exact wording on coins from the Memorandum of Understanding, which has been published in the Federal Register Vol. 76, No. 231 / December 1, 2011:
Coins – Many of the mints of the listed coins can be found in B.V. Head, Historia Numorum: A Manual of Greek Numismatics (London, 1911) and C. M. Kraay, Archaic and Classical Greek Coins (London, 1976). Many of the Roman provincial mints in Greece are listed in A. Burnett et al., Roman Provincial Coinage I: From the Death of Caesar to the Death of Vitellius (44 BC-AD 69) (London, 1992) and id., Roman Provincial Coinage II: From Vespasian to Domitian (AD 69-96) (London, 1999).
a. Greek Bronze Coins – Struck by city-states, leagues, and kingdoms that operated in territory of the modern Greek state (including the ancient territories of the Peloponnese, Central Greece, Thessaly, Epirus, Crete and those parts of the territories of ancient Macedonia, Thrace and the Aegean islands that lay within the boundaries of the modern Greek state). Approximate date: 5th century B.C. to late 1st century B.C.
b. Greek Silver Coins – This category includes the small denomination coins of the city-states of Aegina, Athens, and Corinth, and the Kingdom of Macedonia under Philip II and Alexander the Great.
Such coins weigh less than approximately 10 grams and are known as obols, diobols, triobols, hemidrachms, and drachms. Also included are all denominations of coins struck by the other city-states, leagues, and kingdoms that operated in the territory of the modern Greek state (including the ancient territories of the Peloponnese, Central Greece, Thessaly, Epirus, Crete, and those parts of the territories of ancient Macedonia, Thrace and the Aegean islands that lie within the boundaries of the modern Greek state). Approximate date: 6th century B.C. to late 1st century B.C.
c.Roman Coins Struck in Greece – In silver and bronze, struck at Roman and Roman provincial mints that operated in the territory of the modern Greek state (including the ancient territories of the Peloponnese, Central Greece, Thessaly, Epirus, Crete, and those parts of the territories of ancient Macedonia, Thrace and the Aegean islands that lie within the boundaries of the modern Greek state). Approximate date: late 2nd century B.C. to 3rd century A.D.
If you are interested in the press release of the U.S. Department of State on signing the MOU in July, 2011, click here.
If you want to read the speeches given on the occasion of the signature, click here.
More comments of cultural property issues in the U. S. you will find at the Cultural Property Observer, a blog written by Peter Tompa.