Current shipping rules

[bollefen]

In sending Nihonto from the US to Germany or France, USPS regs stat no arms or weapons can be shipped. However, these are also Antiques. How would I ship a Shinto Blade in buke zukuri from the US.

 

USPS and declare it an antique ignoring the arm/weapon restriction?

 

Alternate shipper ...any suggestions?

 

The last time i did this was a while ago and I declared it as antique iron work art. The Post Office fellow recommended this when I asked him. I use him domestically and the position at the local office is that as far as they are concerned, not being a contemporary weapon or arm, it is allowable as antique art.

 

help

 

bill

[hxv]

Bill,

 

When I ship swords to Australia via USPS, I declare them as "antique, original Japanese artwork." Your description is equally accurate. There should not be any problem.

 

Regards,

Hoanh

[Justin Grant]

You can call it what ever you want, but if something happens and you need insurance on the parcel, you are out of luck. I had this happen on a 300 year old teppo, it was damaged, the shipping company said tough luck, it was a prohibited item from shipping and the insurance was no good. Your purchaser will be the one stuck holding a damaged item that he paid full price for.

 

Check DHL, FedEx, etc, or tell the buyer of the issue and let them decide. Don't make a decision that saves you but curses them.

[Adrian]

What I did in a somehow similar stiuation with my first nihonto purchase was to ask the seller to pack the sword in a thick PVC tube (4' drain pipe ) with GLUED caps and then in a cardboard box.

 

This way you can at least be sure that none from the customs will open it without the buyer being present and therefore the risk of damage becomes minimal. Worst case scenario (if the customs office is really far from the buyer location and he cannot go there in time) the item gets mailed by the customs back to the seller and the buyer loses just the shipping cost.

 

On the tube caps you should put big stickers with red letters: OPEN CAREFULLY OR YOU WILL DAMAGE THE CONTENT.