Customs Officials Seize Ancient Coins In Baltimore

BALTIMORE, MD — More than 10 years after federal agents in Baltimore discovered ancient coins in a search of cargo, they returned them to their rightful owner: the government of Cyprus.

"On behalf of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, I am honored to return these priceless national treasures to the government and citizens of Cyprus," Director of Field Operations in Baltimore Casey Durst said in a statement Friday.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials in Baltimore first spotted the coins in air cargo from London in April 2009. They were headed to a Missouri coin collector via express parcel, and authorities asked the collector to provide documentation from the government of Cyprus authorizing the import of the coins.

The United States has agreements with 20 countries, including Cyprus, restricting the import of certain archeological and ethnological materials to reduce the likelihood that they will be looted.

Once the collector admitted to not having the proper documentation, agents seized the coins.

Here is what officials said was in the package:

• Two bronze coins from an unspecified Roman period
• One coin from the Ptolemaeus period, 81–58 B.C.
• One coin from the Augustus period, 27 B.C –14 A.D.
• Two coins from the Tiberius period, 14-37 A.D.
• One coin from the Severan period, 193–217 A.D.
• Chinese coins from Zhou, Han and Western Han dynasties, 400 B.C.–220 A.D.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection ultimately won what it described as a "protracted legal challenge" with the coin collector over the items, and on Valentine's Day returned the items to their rightful owner: Cyprus.

To repatriate the coins, U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Office of International Affairs held a ceremony with the government of Cyprus Friday at the Embassy of Cyprus in Washington, D.C.

"Customs and Border Protection will continue to use our border authority to identify and rescue precious antiquities being smuggled by those who profit on the theft of another country’s historical and cultural property, and return them to their rightful owners," Durst said.

In 2019, the agency reported making 23 seizures of cultural property valued at $1 million.