National Treasure’s
pocketpiececommems
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Are any US coins considered National Treasures and as such cannot be sold outside of the United States?
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pocketpiececommems
Posts: 5,952 ✭✭✭✭✭
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except for the 1, the 1933 $20 can't be sold anywhere and i believe the mint fought for the others for reasons including they are national historic items
Except for the one 1933 G$20 in private hands, all the others are considered to be US government property and will be confiscated since they are considered to be stolen property. The US government can sell them or even melt them if they choose to do so. I don't know of any US coin that has been declared a "national treasure" that can't be sold outside the US.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
These cultural heritage designations are more common in other countries to limit the sale of antiquities to ANYONE. If the US were to make any such designation, it would affect both domestic and international sales.
It depends on the country, and the laws which that country has put in place to protect its portable antiquities and other national relics.
Here in Australia, for example, certain culturally significant artifacts - pieces of Ned Kelly's armour, Victoria Cross medals won by Australian soldiers, and pre-1770 Aboriginal artifacts, for example - are Class A artifacts and, while anyone - even foreigners - are technically allowed to own them, they are not allowed to be exported out of the country under any circumstances. Certain other artifacts (Class B ) can be freely bought, sold and exported once certain permit requirements are met.
In the US, most of the laws and regulations revolve around pre-Colombian native artifacts, and around US complying with the 1970 UNESCO treaty on repatriation of antiquities stolen from other countries. I don't believe there are any US coins which you are legally allowed to own, which you aren't also legally allowed to export. "What's mine is mine and I can do with it whatever I want" is a cornerstone of US property law.
Quite why one would choose to export a "numismatic national treasure" when all of the potential interest (and value) would be within the US would be another debate.
(Edited to make the smiley-face go away
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Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"
Apparently I have been awarded one DPOTD.
It is complex. But the rationale for declaring something a national treasure is usually rooted in the desire to preserve the artifact for the public good and not xenophobia. As such, as you point out, lower tier artifacts often stay in private possession, but higher tier artifacts are reserved for public collections.
In the context of US coinage, declaring rarities like dismes or 1804 dollars or the 1933 $20 would likely lead to all private ownership of such items being prohibited.
I also wonder whether digital preservation of artifacts in the future might lead to a complete change in the warehousing of artifacts. Think Ready Player One with museums. If I have a VR or ER digitization of the artifact that is more widely accessible, I no longer need physical museums as repositories for such artifacts.