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SENATE BILL WOULD RESTRICT TRADING OF MEDALSFrank Draskovic alerted us to a new bill in the U.S. Senate that would further restrict the business of buying and selling military decorations, medals, and related items. -Editor
The far-reaching bill attempts to make it illegal for non-approved individuals or businesses to buy, possess, sell, or import US military medals from outside of the United States. According to Cruz's press release, however, he does endorse the yet-to-be-constructed "National Medal of Honor Museum" as an appropriate recipient of any errant medals. And where is this museum to be built? It isn't hard for you to guess — Cruz's home state of Texas. Cruz's impetus for the bill was the sale of a Medal of Honor through the Munich-based auction company, Herman Historica. While it is illegal in the United States to buy, sell, or even possess a Medal of Honor (that was not awarded to you or a family member), it is perfectly legal for sales to occur off of United States soil. The Medal of Honor Museum Foundation attempted to block the sale, alerting Cruz to their inability to legally purchase the Medal. So now, Cruz has authored a bill that, in essence, throws out the baby with the bathwater. If passed, military historians, medal collectors, and dealers will have to get on Cruz's "good list" to be able to own, buy, or sell medals. A Medal of Honor Museum itself is a fine idea, and would be a great counterpart to museums abroad featuring the Victoria Cross medals. But further restricting the sale of medals is not the way to go about it. The bill would attempt to impose restrictions on foreign sales by placing sanctions against the sellers. It is an attempt to fix a problem that only exists because of earlier equally misguided legislation. -Editor Frank writes: "Once again, this dragon rears its ugly head. Start writing letters and emails now. Tell your collector pals. Spread this news on forums you participate in. Get pro-active. Nip it in the bud. It's your hobby! "Explain to Cruz, and others in Congress who may be sympathetic to this bill, what medal collecting is about, historical aspects, preservation, etc., and why a ban on collecting is a bad idea."
To read the complete article, see:
To read the press release, see:
To read the complete bill, see:
Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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