Dear Fellow ANS Member



Since last March, two numismatic trade associations as well as the
Ancient Coin Collectors Guild have been trying to gain details about the
pending Chinese request for import restrictions through Freedom of
Information Act requests, letters to State Department officials, and a
meeting with the State Department's top career lawyer, all to no avail.



Our suspicions began when coins were listed for potential restriction
without further explanation in an 11 page summary of what purported to
be the request even though we knew that the Bank of China had partnered
with a Chinese entrepreneur to sell the exact same type of coins from
his 500 ton hoard to tourists.



Other Chinese art experts also became suspicious because the broad
nature of the Chinese request (covering Neolithic Times to 1911) did not
square with news reports out of China that the Chinese were only
interested in help in recovering items stolen from tombs.



We have even enlisted the assistance of Congressmen Foley and
Rohrabacher, but we understand that they are also being stonewalled by
the State Department that has told them that the details of the Chinese
request under Article 9 of the 1970 UNESCO Convention are "secret." We
find this odd because the State Department has already put up what
purports to be a summary of the request on its web site. All we really
want is a copy of the original Chinese request, in Mandarin, so we can
make sure it matches up. We have also told the State Department that we
would be happy to get a copy of the Chinese request in redacted form,
i.e., with any confidential material blacked out.



Based on a comment from a Congressional contact, at this point, we think
the only way we are going to get to the bottom of this is to apply
additional political pressure. At a minimum, we hope that questions
about the details about the request will cause the DOS political
appointees, Dina Powell and Karen Hughes, to ask staff some hard
questions about the details of the request and whether proper processes
have been followed.



If you think Government transparency is important, I would urge you to
tell your member of Congress what you think. This can be easily done
using the ACCG fax wizard at the below link.



http://www.vcoins.com/fax/



It is actually interesting to do, takes only about 5 minutes, and is
free.



Please note although I do represent the two numismatic trade
associations with respect to the Chinese request, the fax wizard is
solely a volunteer effort sponsored by the ACCG.



Best wishes,





Peter K. Tompa

Dillingham & Murphy, LLP

1155 Connecticut Ave., N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20036

Telephone: 202.835.9880

Facsimile: 202.835.9885

E-mail: pkt@...







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