Portable Antiquity Collecting and Heritage Issues: ACCG Exposed

Monday, 22 August 2016

ACCG Exposed

Collectors, do you really want to have the 'freedom of access' on your market to dirty coins of types at risk of looting? New litigation sponsored by a deceptively-named coin dealer's organization aims to erode customs regulations on import of such objects. Dr. Peter Tompa, "a very highly qualified and distinguished attorney", claimed to be "one of the world's leading legal experts on cultural property law" is behind this. Meanwhile a cultural heritage lawyer who seems to me to know his stuff gives us a breakdown of the sad sorry saga of the way in which these dealers try to capitalise on their Baltimore Illegal Coin Import Stunt which they co-organized with London dealer Spink's ('One Side of the Coin: ACCG Re-Argues Previously Decided Legal Issues in Baltimore Test Case', Cultural Heritage Lawyer Monday, August 22, 2016) .

Soon afterward, the ACCG filed its motion for summary judgement and, on July 29, the court adopted a schedule that allows the parties to fully brief their positions. Once completed in mid-October, CHL expects to review the parties’ arguments.

I look forward to seeing that. Meanwhile Mr Tompa is plaintively tweeting to all and sundry on Twitter trying to attract their attention:

Chasing Aphrodite ‏@ChasingAphrodit 2 godz.2 godziny temu

Rick St. Hilaire on the coin collectors' Quixotic effort to gut regulation on potentially looted ancient coins http://fb.me/1tagJ1kDq

Peter Tompa ‏@Aurelius161180 54 min.54 minuty temu

@ChasingAphrodit To be fair, should link to the Guild's MSJ. http://www.accg.us/News/Item/ACCG_files_motion_for_summary_judgement.aspx … Instead of spin, let the reader assess the merit.

and how 'fair' do ACCG dealers think they are being to the citizens (and collectors) of countries from which they want to continue to buy the material willy-nilly without bothering about the paperwork? Actually, if you read Rick St. Hilaire's careful analysis of the junk litigation of the ACCG, 'spin' is one of the last words that should come to mind to describe it. Once again we see that when collectors are called upon to give a substantive answer to serious critique, all they can muster is insults.