Successful importation from Aoi Art

[Katsujinken]

I just had an antique tanto and koshirae delivered to the USA from Aoi Art and everything went very smoothly so I thought I’d share what I did. 
 

They put in for export on July 15. The tanto shipped via EMS on August 5, and was delivered to me by USPS today. No duty was required. 

 

I asked Aoi to include the following in the paperwork:

 

Tariff code: 9706.10.00.60

 

Handle is wrapped in stingray skin (shagreen).

Genus: Dasyatis

Species: Dasyatis akajei 

Source: U; this item is an antique 

Country of origin: Japan

 

I used a similar schema for the handle wrapping with my last import from another shop. Dasyatis akajei is a common stingray native to the waters near Japan. It is currently listed as “near threatened.” This worked well last time so I figured I would use it again. 
 

Anyway, hopefully this is helpful to someone in the future!