Thank you for this story, Graham. My guess is that the agents were looking for a CITES violation; that is, the convention of international trade of endangered species act. I have a lute which contains ivory and Brazillian rosewood, and I would never consider attempting bringing it over a border.
ed At 08:38 AM 11/1/2010, Graham Freeman wrote: > Dear Collective Wisdom, > A few weeks ago, I sent out a message soliciting advice concerning > selling my theorbo on the lute list. Many of you replied promptly with > some excellent advice, and I'm very grateful. Thank you to everyone who > replied. I have sold my beautiful theorbo to a good home where it will > be fed well and kept warm. > Also, I might impart to you the cautionary tale of its transport. It > was sent by UPS from Toronto to New York, and the shipping was prepaid > by the buyer. After getting to Buffalo quite quickly, it was then held > at US Customs for more than a week. Every day it was sent back and > forth between the UPS office and the Customs office trying to get > approval to get it through Customs. The problem seemed to be the Lacey > Act, a measure originally meant to interrupt the trafficking in animals > but expanded in 2008 to include plants and plant products, such as > wood. The fact that the instrument was made of wood (combined with some > poor Customs official opening it up and having no idea what it might > be) made it very suspicious to the great thinkers they hire at Customs. > I had to contact the luthier to verify where all the wood had been > sourced, the buyer had to obtain power of attorney over the instrument > and sign a document verifying the origin of the wood, etc. I was very > fortunate that the buyer was extremely well-versed in this sort of > thing, but it took an enormous amount of effort just to get it to its > destination. After the many dozens of times it must have been taken out > and inspected by people who didn't know what they were doing, I was > perhaps fortunate that the only damage it sustained was some minor > damage to a tuning peg. The most inconvenient and worrying part, of > course, was that the instrument was being held in storage, probably > with no consideration for the fragility of the instrument at all, for > more than a week. > The moral of the story, I suppose, is that if you are trying to sell or > ship your instrument to the US from another country, make sure you have > researched the laws concerning imports into the US, especially of wood > products, and have some documentation from your luthier concerning the > woods that were used and where they were sourced, and gets LOTS of > insurance for the trip. It might not even hurt to get the advice of a > lawyer or importer in the US who has experience with these things. I > was fortunate in that respect, but not everyone will be. > Once again, thank you to everyone for your advice, and I hope my little > tale saves someone else the stress and trouble it caused me. > Best, > Graham Freeman > -- > Dr. Graham Freeman > Ph. D Musicology > University of Toronto > [1][email protected] > -- > >References > > 1. mailto:[email protected] > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html Edward Martin 2817 East 2nd Street Duluth, Minnesota 55812 e-mail: [email protected] voice: (218) 728-1202 http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1660298871&ref=name http://www.myspace.com/edslute
