Petition for preserving the right to privately collect !

Scripophily, stamps, coins, books, furniture, ceramics, phonograph records, toys, paintings, letters and many more physical objects are part of our cultural heritage. The current draft on the new German Law on the Protection of Cultural Property affects private collecting of all of these artefacts. The new law will impose some guidelines impossible to follow even for the most meticulous collector. 

So far, representatives from the collecting and trading parties, have been involved far too little in the process. Ursula Kampmann from MünzenWoche|CoinsWeekly has initiated an online petition to illustrate how many people in Germany and beyond actually support private collecting.

Though this is a German law, the country plays an important role in the current and future European law-making process. And that is why it is important for you, to sign the Petition for preserving the right to privately collect. Show the German government that foreign collectors and dealers take a great interest in the current draft bill, too. 

You can sign the petition HERE , please do it now so you will not forget it. 

After you signed it, email the message to your collector friends, and post the message on your social media accounts. Every single vote is needed to fulfill a target of 120.000 supporters within the next 33 days from now.

F.L.

Signed on 30 July 2015

Further background information

• Ministerial draft updating the legislation on the Protection of Cultural Heritage, Münzenwoche|CoinsWeekly
• Petition news and overviews of the many people from all over the world that already signed the petition, see there .

Urgent ! Petition for the Amsterdam Tropenmuseum

The Museum of the Tropics in Amsterdam is hit by budget cuts and the government even plans to close it. Please help putting this case again on the Dutch government agenda by signing an online petition. Until June 30, 2013 40,000 signatures are required.

interior of the museum
picture from Wikipedia by Ziko van Dijk 
double-click image to enlarge

As one of Europe’s leading ethnographic museums its rich collection reflects the Dutch colonial history. The museum houses more than 640,000 objects including 

• 485,000 photographs
• 5,500 musical instruments as well as various other theatrical objects such as masks and puppets
• 21,000 textile artifacts, a majority of which are from Indonesia
• 19,000 miscellaneous drawings, paintings, and documents

The collection includes also antique stocks and bonds. Some of them are available online, see here. You can use the Dutch search terms 'aandeel' (share) and 'obligatie' (bond). 

Batjan Archipel Maatschappij, Dutch East Indies
Ordinary share of 500 Guilder
Rotterdam, 1911
image source : Tropenmuseum, Online Collections

Ursula Kampmann, from CoinsWeekly brought this under my attention, see here. The Tropenmuseum is about people, and I am a people-person. That is why I also signed the petition. If you feel the same way like me then sign too and spread the word. Signatures are needed before 30 June 2013. The online petition is located here.

For non dutch speakers, on the site: please fill in your first name and last name (Ik = Identity = put your name), city (Wonende te = City = put your city) and your email and send. Next, click on the confirmation link in the email that you will receive subsequently.

Thank you !

F.L.

Further links

• Online site of the Tropenmuseum 
• Wikipedia's Tropenmuseum