HELP FOR SHIPPING

[eftihis]

Dear friends,

The law in Greece for edged weapons is that they are permited, as long as they are antique and not new. (must be made before 1922)
The same rule exist when importing them from outside EU. The problem is that you have to prove to the customs people the age of an item, and this takes a lot of time and effort.
So for me the way ffor any items i bought from the States was passing through England. A good friend there was receiving my swords (there was no problem to import a sword in UK) and latter he was sending to Greece, or i would go in London once a year and pick them up. (Greece and UK are in EU, so no customs in between)
But now, with the new "ban of new sword" law in the UK, any sword stops at UK customs, who they also ask for a proof of age to let the swords in.
This again takes time and effort, and my friend that was receiving them u to now as a favor to me, is not willing to do that any more!
Is there anybody in another civilised European country that would be willing to help me by occasionaly receiving a sword from the US?
Thanks!

[asomotif]

All my swords ex USA get caught by customs nowadays in The Netherlands.
Taxes vary between 6% for antique and 19% for others.
But they are allowed, being antique or new all the same.

[Bill M]

Other than CITES questions, are there any problems shipping swords INTO the USA?

[rand]

Hi Bill,

Not sure about swords, other than if they have any ivory it can be a real pain.. But bought an 18th century matchlock from Canada and shipped into USA. It had to go through a broker and delivered to a firearms dealer in the USA. AM thinking any antique firearm now is a higher cost to bring into the country.

And have checked on taking a collection of swords to Europe, they want you to prepay a tax as if you had sold them all. Needless to say that killed that plan. Do not travel much so maybe someone with more travel experience can chime in here.

rand

[kahnjar1]

After reading the above, I realise just how lucky we are here in New Zealand, regarding importing of swords and knives/daggers. There is (at present) no restriction on importing of old/antique swords or knives provided of course they do not fall into the category of "offensive" weapons eg.flick knives/butterfly/gravity knives etc.or are a "hidden weapon" such as a sword stick We do not have to PROVE age of item either.
Old/antique daggers (double edged knives), and OLD swordsticks etc., can be imported provided the correct permit is obtained AND you are known to Police (who handle the application), as a "bonefide" collector. If you DO fall into this category, the premit application is generally just a matter of course.
Long may this situation remain, and we all hope that the "nanny state" does not try to be silly if it comes to new laws.

[russel]

Originally Posted by kahnjar1

After reading the above, I realise just how lucky we are here in New Zealand, regarding importing of swords and knives/daggers. There is (at present) no restriction on importing of old/antique swords or knives provided of course they do not fall into the category of "offensive" weapons eg.flick knives/butterfly/gravity knives etc.or are a "hidden weapon" such as a sword stick We do not have to PROVE age of item either.
Old/antique daggers (double edged knives), and OLD swordsticks etc., can be imported provided the correct permit is obtained AND you are known to Police (who handle the application), as a "bonefide" collector. If you DO fall into this category, the premit application is generally just a matter of course.
Long may this situation remain, and we all hope that the "nanny state" does not try to be silly if it comes to new laws.

This is a very similar situation to the regulations in Australia: no permit required for swords or single edged knives. A police issued permit is required to import daggers (double edged). Some items are prohibited (such as flick-knives, balisong and concealed weapons). The only truly unfortunate prohibition we have is "knives with transverse handles" ie.punch-daggers, which means I can only obtain Katars from within Australia (needless to say, I only have two. The are very uncommon items in Australia.

We also have a rather fortunate situation with import fees, items under $1000 attract no import duties!

[A. G. Maisey]

I have collected edged weapons since 1953 and I have been importing swords, daggers and other weapons into Australia since the mid 1950's.

I have imported from UK, Holland, USA, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia --- and maybe a few other places that I've forgotten.

A long time ago there was no problem at all with imports of anything.

Then we went through a period of idiocy where almost anything shorter than a meter long would be classified as a dagger by the inspecting customs officer and you needed (in NSW) to get police clearance to have it released by customs, unless it actually was a dagger, which in the definition supplied in the relevant legislation comes down to pretty much only a Sykes-Fairburn --- and if you observed the relevant legislation, you could also cope with that little problem.

Import of weapons in Oz is largely dependent upon state laws, but daggers are prohibited imports under federal legislation. The state law overrides the federal law in this matter.

These days we have a very enlightened approach, which necessitates obtaining a B709B form from the police which sets forth for the inspecting customs officer the requirements that must be met by the importer in respect of the imported weapon.

This B709B is generated at a state level, so if you require a licence or permit in the state where the import takes place, you need to produce that before customs will clear the import. If, as in NSW, no licence or permit is required to own a particular weapon, the imported weapon is cleared immediately.

In my opinion this is a very good system, it avoids stand-up knock-downs with ratbag and aggressive customs officers, and the ongoing conflicts that these confrontations generate. Yeah, if you were right you always won, but it took time, effort and money. These days it is easy.

There is no charge for a B709B, you simply apply for it.

In today's world the public attitude seems to be mostly anti all types of weapon. Looked at objectively there are mostly pretty good reasons for this, so if those of us who want own weapons wish to continue to be permitted to own those weapons, we need to have a very good understanding of the relevant legislation.

[BBJW]

Originally Posted by eftihis

Dear friends,

The law in Greece for edged weapons is that they are permited, as long as they are antique and not new. (must be made before 1922)
The same rule exist when importing them from outside EU. The problem is that you have to prove to the customs people the age of an item, and this takes a lot of time and effort.
So for me the way ffor any items i bought from the States was passing through England. A good friend there was receiving my swords (there was no problem to import a sword in UK) and latter he was sending to Greece, or i would go in London once a year and pick them up. (Greece and UK are in EU, so no customs in between)
But now, with the new "ban of new sword" law in the UK, any sword stops at UK customs, who they also ask for a proof of age to let the swords in.
This again takes time and effort, and my friend that was receiving them u to now as a favor to me, is not willing to do that any more!
Is there anybody in another civilised European country that would be willing to help me by occasionaly receiving a sword from the US?
Thanks!

Just curious ---are you allowed to own firearms in Greece? Maybe a hammer?

Cheers
bbjw

[eftihis]

Hi BBJW,
Owning a firearm (other than shotgun, which is easy) is very difficult in Greece. You must have either a "carrying weapon for self degence" licence, which is almost impossible to obtain, unless you are a banker or a politician, and the "athletic licence" which allows you to have, but not carry a hundgun. (you need a lot of effort like going to contests etc to keep it)
Regarding antiques, only flintlock are permited (anything before 1870, that cannot tace a cartidge).

Just to understand the situation, i know have to pass a trial at the 11th of November, because 3 years ago, when i bought a new damascus dagger from WARD, he sent it by mistake to my Greek ebay address instead of the London one i provided. They cought it on customs, and intead of sending it back (which they usually do), they confiscate it, and started an investigation, called me for an apology, and now the paper came for a court trial!!!
If i ger convicted is a 6 months minimum...

Anyway, i am from Crete which has a special weapon loving tradition, and i am afraid of these idiot bureaucrats!
As most Cretans i love weapons and i am not going to give up, legal or illegal!

I attach one of my favorite family photos, is my uncle and his friends after a wedding in Crete in the 50s...

[Rumpel]

Sorry for reviving this thread, but I was wondering if any of the Greek members in particular might know what the current laws are there for importing antique/ethnographic edged weapons, and whether it would be best to:

a) send overland, with furniture
b) by air, in the hold
c) by Fedex or similar.

Many thanks in advance for advice.

[kronckew]

in the UK straight swords of any length are no problem. no age or mfg. requirements.

curved swords pre 1950ish are OK as long as you can document the age. new or old ones) ones that are 'traditionally hand forged' are OK, as are ones with blades under 50m cm. you can also import new ones not 'traditionally hand forged' if you belong to a recognised martial arts school or re-enactment society with insurance.

they were actually trying to ban cheap samurai swords and ran into trouble from martial artists & collectors.

i almost had a new filipino made chinese style dandao (25.8in./72.4cm. blade) confiscated by the UK border agency last summer because it was not described as 'traditionally hand forged' on the customs docs. it took me & the vendor many emails, paper document mailings, and photos of one being 'hand forged' in the phillipines, about three months to convince them to release the item.

p.s. - if you have more than one item in the shipment they confiscate the whole shipment (and destroy it) even if only one item doesn't meet the requirements. which are nonsense anyway.

[Rumpel]

Thanks Kronckew. To clarify, I intend to export them from the UK to Greece: I just spoke to UK Customs who said there was no problem at this end, but couldn't provide any paperwork to smooth the path at the Greek end (which is what one shipping company asked for).

[Blacksmith]

I attach one of my favorite family photos, is my uncle and his friends after a wedding in Crete in the 50s...[/QUOTE]

Hi, my parents live near Platanias during winters and when i was visiting them a couple of weeks ago i saw this photo on the wall of the village tavern in Stavros. Is the photo published at some point or maybe it was your relatives tavern? I think I could help you with the sword problem. Here in Finland we don`t have any problems with the swords and daggers, antique or not.
And Im coming to Chania on september again.
Regards, Tapani

[BANDOOK]

THIS THREAD IS VERY INFORMATIVE AND ALL COMMENTS,AM WANTING TO BUY WEAPONS FROM UNITED KINGDOM BUT FACE THE PROBLEM OF AIRLINES AND MOST COURIERS NOT ACCCEPTING THEM,SO COULD SOMEONE ADVISE A GOOD COURIER AND SHIPPING COMPANY WHO CAN HANDLE SHIPPING AND CLEARING FOR EXPORT,KIND REGARDS RAJESH