Also see the story, quoted in David Munrow's book Instruments of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, of Inigo Jones' theorbo being detained at Dover on his return from Italy because the Customs officials feared that it was "a Popish engine of destruction."
The more things change... Best to all, and keep playing, Chris. >>> Edward Mast <[email protected]> 11/1/2010 9:51 AM >>> Thanks for passing on your experiences, Graham. I guess that - like ivory - certain woods are considered rare or endangered, and their use and transport is being controlled. A nuisance for musical instrument players, but in the overall scheme of things probably a good thing. Ned On Nov 1, 2010, at 9:38 AM, 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 > [1]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
