Coin dealer Wayne Sayles moans now about the US Treasury for not supporting what he calls "collectors' rights" (Relegated to Insignificance, 3 April 2011). Let us be clear that what he sees as an attack on those "rights" is a measure introduced which restricts ancient artefacts (including coins) being imported from Italy into the United States to those which have been legally exported. Is "cultural property internationalist" coin dealer Sayles really campaigning for the "right" to buy illegally exported artefacts? Another little gem of information he let slip yesterday was that somebody told him that in considering the 2011 renewal of the MOU, the President's Cultural Property Advisory Committee actually voted against considering dugup coins as archaeological material. One wonders why they would do such a thing, and how it is that information like this is leaked (Bradley Manning, move over, you might be getting a cell-mate soon if much more of this sort of thing goes on in US government committee circles). Is this new leak anything to do with Robert Korver's recent resignation from the Committee?
Vignette: exactly what "rights" does this dealer claim to have? The right to buy artefacts illegally exported from other countries? Why DO so many antiquity dealers in the US oppose so vehemently the legislation which only really affects those attempting to obtain illegally exported artefacts and other cultural property from other countries?