General News

The International Association of Professional Numismatists (I.A.P.N.) will have a table at this summer's ANA - World's Fair of Money in Rosemont (Chicago), IL (USA)

Please stop by I.A.P.N.'s table #1632 in the Ancient & World section of the bourse to learn more about the Association, our activities and important trade issues facing the industry. You can also get help with any questions you may have about buying and selling coins safely from members of the I.A.P.N., and also meet participating I.A.P.N. Members with tables on the bourse buying and selling coins and other collectible numismatic items.

Fair attendees can also meet the IAPN Executive Director who can answer questions about the I.A.P.N. or help put you in touch with Members participating at this year's event.

Please stop by and meet the I.A.P.N.!

To find an IAPN Member at the event, view our IAPN Dealer Roster  

Please Support HR 7865, 
a bill to facilitate the lawful trade of coins.

HR 7865 would amend the Cultural Property Implementation Act to facilitate lawful trade in numismatic materials. Specifically, it would allow for the import of coin types on “designated lists” as long as there is evidence that the numismatics item was acquired lawfully, is of a known type, and is not the direct product of illicit excavations within a State Party after the effective date of any import restrictions on coins.

This legislation is necessary to address grossly overbroad import restrictions on common coins that circulated regionally and even internationally that are enforced not solely on items illicitly exported from a UNESCO State party after the effective date of implementing regulations, but rather as embargoes on all coins of given “designated types.”

For further background, see this article published in CoinWeek:
Bill Introduced to Facilitate Lawful Trade of Ancient Coins [April 30, 2024]

The following collector and trade organizations support this bill:  

(1) American Numismatic Association (money.org)
(2) Ancient Coin Collectors Guild (accguild.org)
(3) CINOA (cinoa.org)
(4) Global Heritage Alliance (global-heritage.org)
(5) International Association of Professional Numismatists (iapn-coins.org)

PLEASE HELP!

Ask your Representative to Cosponsor HR 7865 in 3 Easy Steps:

Step 1: Find your Representative
https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

Step 2: Email your Representative and request that they cosponsor HR 7865

Step 3: Email the IAPN Executive Director and ACCG Board MemberPeter Tompa at pkt@pktcounsel.com to let him know about your contact. He can follow up with your Representative’s office in conjunction with ACCG’s lobbyist, Marc Lubin.

Resources: Visit the following link to read the full text of the Bill, HR 7865
(https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-118hr7865ih/pdf/BILLS-118hr7865ih.pdf)

This helpful flyer [.PDF] has been provided with the steps to contact your Representative. It can be viewed online or downloaded.

The IAPN's Executive Director, Peter Tompa represented the IAPN at CINOA’s Annual General Meeting held on July 4th and 5th, 2024 in Estoril, Portugal.    

Peter interacted with representatives of other CINOA member organizations from Africa, Europe, and the US. He participated in roundtable discussions about regulatory issues facing the art, numismatics, and antiques trade.  

Learn more about the IAPN + CINOA.

This week numerous IAPN Members have taken part in the inaugural coin fair, MADrid 2024 - Evento Numsimatico being held in Madrid, SPAIN.

On the morning of the first day of the event, collectors and dealers waited patiently in a long queue to be the first to enter the bourse area of the newest event on the numismatic calendar.

The IAPN's Executive Director, Peter K. Tompa was at Table #1 just inside the bourse representing the Association and greeting attendees curious to explore the new event.

Around the bourse at MADrid 2024 - Evento Numismatico:

MADrid 2024 is the inaugural coin fair being held in Madrid that seeks to establish itself as a meeting point between dealers, collectors, institutions and academics at an international level. 

The first gathering will be held between 27 - 30 June, 2024.  

MADrid 2024 will feature an auction by Jesús Vico on the 27th of June and a numismatic convention on 28-29 June at the Four Seasons in the center of the city of Madrid. During the coin fair there will also be, in parallel, institutional and scientific lectures.

MADrid 2024 Official website: https://eventonumismatico.es

MADrid 2024 - Roundtable Friday, 28, June 2024 at 16:30 - 17:30

"How to improve the interaction between public, the coin market, and museums."

Roundtable participants from left to right:

Daniel F. Sedwick (IAPN President and Daniel Frank Sedwick, LLC); Ursula Kampmann (Coins Weekly); Andrew Brown (British Museum, Portable Antiquities Scheme); Shanna Schmidt (Shanna Schmidt Numismatics).

The IAPN’s Executive Director, Peter Tompa, joined other art trade experts in the second meeting of the European Commission’s Expert Sub-Group on the Dialogue with the Art Market. The meeting took place on March 28-29th, in Brussels, Belgium.  

The International Association of Professional Numismatists (IAPN) conducted its 72nd annual Congress in San Francisco, CA from May 16-19, 2024. Thirty-nine member firms attended the Congress which was held at the historic Argonaut Hotel right on the waterfront at Fisherman’s Wharf. A post-Congress trip to Monterey to visit its famous aquarium and vineyards took place right after the Congress concluded.

The Congress approved three new IAPN members, Paul Knudsen of Paul's Coins (USA), Keith Candiotti (USA), and Ginza Coins (Japan), learned more about IAPN’s activities in the last year, and received briefings on IAPN’s new website as well as regulatory trends facing the industry.  

The Congress also provides a venue to decide the winner for IAPN’s annual book prize.  Mr. Mairat, curator of Roman Coins at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, England, was awarded the IAPN Book Prize for his title, Roman Imperial Coinage, Volume V.4: The Gallic Empire (AD 260-274), published by Spink in London.

Second prize went to Cori Sedwick Downing, a senior numismatist at the house of Daniel Frank Sedwick in Winter Park, Florida, and Isaac Rudman, a collector from the Dominican Republic, for their The Charles & Joanna Silver Coinage of Santo Domingo, 1542-1552, published by Isaac Rudman in Santo Domingo.

Third prize went to Glenn Murray, the Spanish-domiciled 72-year old Los Angeles-born numismatist, for his Boato y Tecnología: Cincuentines, centenes y escudos de a echo, published by the Asociación Amigos de la Casa de la Moneda de Segovia, in Segovia, Spain.  

The nomination list of all 23 titles entered for this year's Prize may be viewed here. 

 The Congress also provided an opportunity for IAPN members to spend time with their colleagues from around the world in a relaxed atmosphere so unlike hectic coin shows.  

Activities included a visit to historic Sonoma, dinners at local restaurants and a gala held at the historic San Francisco Mint. Companions visited the Walt Disney Family Museum and the breathtaking Muir Woods. 

The Gala is also an opportunity for IAPN members to support local community organizations benefiting those in need. This year, IAPN members raised $10,500 for, Ceres Community Project. Ceres prepares home-delivered meals for people who are too sick to shop or cook for themselves. (https://www.ceresproject.org/)

Stephen Album Rare Coins helped organize this year’s Congress and post-Congress trip. 

The next Congress will take place in June 2025 in Budapest, Hungary with the post-Congress trip to Bratislava and the historic mining and minting areas of Central Slovakia. Nudelman Numismatica and Macho & Chlapovic are collaborating to organize the Congress and post-Congress tour.   

International Association of Professional Numismatists (IAPN) 

The IAPN (iapn-coins.org) was constituted at a meeting held in Geneva in 1951 to which the leading international numismatic firms had been invited. There were 28 founding members. Today, there are more than 100 numismatic firms in the membership, across several continents and twenty-five countries. 

IAPN Executive Director, Peter Tompa was invited to attend a High level event where he was able to interact with European Commission officials as well as representatives of other CINOA^[1] affiliated trade groups.

In late December, Mr. Tompa attended the first meeting of the European Commission's expert sub-group on “Dialogue with the Art Market" at the EC's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

His attendance at this month's follow-up meeting held in conjunction with the BRAFA Art Fair ^[2] in Brussels gave him the opportunity to join the event where Margaritis Schinas, Vice President of the European Commission for Promoting our European Way of Life ^[3] gave a talk. Tompa met with and spoke to the top EU bureaucrat on the issue, Georg Haeusler.

Peter K. Tompa has accepted the position of IAPN’s Executive Director, effective January 1, 2024.  He succeeds long-time IAPN Executive Director, Jean-Luc Van der Schueren.

Previously and going forward, Tompa has acted as the IAPN’s outside legal counsel, advocating for fair treatment for the micro and small businesses of the numismatic trade before government regulators. He has practiced cultural property law since the 1990’s and has written and lectured extensively about the subject. He is a past co-chair of the American Bar Association's Art & Cultural Heritage Law Committee. He has been an avid ancient coin collector since he first saw such coins for sale while on a European family vacation in the early 1970’s. He is a life member of the American Numismatic Association and the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild as well as a Life Fellow of the American Numismatic Society.  He was recently appointed as the IAPN’s representative on a European Commission expert sub-group on “Dialogue with the Art Market.”

Tompa hopes to assist IAPN’s President and Executive Committee in fosteringa healthy and prosperous numismatic trade conducted according to the highest standards of business ethics and commercial practice.  

The IAPN was constituted at a meeting held in Geneva in 1951 to which the leading international numismatic firms had been invited. There were 28 founding members. Today, there are more than 100 numismatic firms in the membership, across several continents and twenty-five countries. 

FOR ENQUIRIES ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
The IAPN General Secretary
57, rue Grimaldi 98000 MONACO
Email: secretary@iapn-coins.org | Tel. +377 93 25 12 96

On Friday, the 12th of January, newly appointed IAPN Executive Director, Peter K. Tompa spoke on topics related to numismatics, antiquities and cultural property law.

Peter discussed new and proposed import restrictions on coins, recent prosecutions for cultural property crimes, and developments in the European Union before taking questions for further discussion from members of the ACCG and the IAPN.  Peter also introduced Keith Twitchell, who has succeeded Peter as the ACCG’s executive director.

The talk was held at the InterContinental New York Barclay's Morgan Suite within the bourse area of the 52nd Annual New York International Numismatic Convention (NYINC).