The Walls of Foggy Bottom

Ancient coin collectors are hoping for a 21st century rerun of Joshua and the Walls of Jericho as the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild musters its forces beneath the Walls of Secrecy surrounding the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in Washington. The collectors advocacy group has launched a bold initiative to challenge unprecedented import restrictions that coin collectors feel were imposed without proper advice and considerations by the U.S. State Department. Indeed, the ACCG is claiming that the imposition of these restrictions was an abuse of discretion by State Department personnel.

While some nationalistic (and one can hardly avoid the word elitist) archaeologists have reviled and ridiculed private collectors, the ACCG has methodically moved forward with its effort to bring the cultural property battle to the halls of Justice. A recent and intentional importation of prohibited Chinese and Cypriot coins by the ACCG will serve as a test of the validity of import restrictions imposed through State Department agreements with China and Cyprus. As a consequence, the walls of secrecy at DOS that have long been considered impregnable could start to crumble. In a recent administrative order, President Obama himself called for a new era of transparency within governmental agencies. It will be interesting to see what effect this shared view of the White House and Ancient Coin Collectors, filtered through the Federal Courts, will have on the Walls of Foggy Bottom.