Taking walrus hilted sword out of Germany

spiral · 21st November 2014, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VANDOO

BUT WAIT IN FUTURE WOOD COULD BE BANNED TO SAVE THE TREES THAT ARE LONG DEAD AS WELL.

Cites covers many timbers & this has been enforced many times in the USA for many years.

linkyto 2nd Fed raid on Gibson guitars.

spiral

Jens Nordlunde · 21st November 2014, 04:19 PM

The only thing I can tell you is, that every time I have bought something in England it was examined by the English customs, as well as by the Swiss customs, and I had to fill in formulars stating thet it is more than 100 years old, that it has no cultural value and, and, and... None of the weapons I have imported had ivory hilts.
Lets say the the English customs think the hillt is of plastic, not likely but just let us say so, what when it comes to the Turkish customs? They also know the CITES rules.
It is really a very unfortunate situation you are in, and I dont know what I would do. If the sword is in England and you dont what to wait/pay for the CITES certificate, it may be better to sell it in England. Painful no doubt, but better to get your money back than loose both money and the sword - and maybe get a fine as well.
I am sorry that I cant help you, I wish I could.

erlikhan · 21st November 2014, 08:19 PM

Jens, Turkish customs don't check most of the incoming passangers & bags. Even if they do, I know they mainly try to catch black money,drugs, electronics, phones, furs etc. If they see some raw ivory or rhino, of course they will seize them and will interrogate you. But none of the officers will doubt if an antique Turkish sword's hilt is original old or might be a Trojan horse used for ivory smuggling or something likewise. I don't have any hesitation about Turkish leg of the trip. If I tried to take a walrus hilted antique sword out of Turkey with me, I would probably get in trouble but not particularly because of the walrus hilt but because it can be categorized as a cultural national asset as a whole item.
I didn't get one thing. You say English officers always examined your swords. You declared the swords yourself at the check in counter ?

Sancar · 21st November 2014, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by erlikhan

Jens, Turkish customs don't check most of the incoming passangers & bags. Even if they do, I know they mainly try to catch black money,drugs, electronics, phones, furs etc. If they see some raw ivory or rhino, of course they will seize them and will interrogate you. But none of the officers will doubt if an antique Turkish sword's hilt is original old or might be a Trojan horse used for ivory smuggling or something likewise. I don't have any hesitation about Turkish leg of the trip. If I tried to take a walrus hilted antique sword out of Turkey with me, I would probably get in trouble but not particularly because of the walrus hilt but because it can be categorized as a cultural national asset as a whole item.
I didn't get one thing. You say English officers always examined your swords. You declared the swords yourself at the check in counter ?

Erlikhan, this is a very interesting subject for me. Because I always heard that it was next to impossible to bring any kind of blade with you to Turkey from abroad, antique or modern reproduction, because they were classified as weapon by Turkish custom office. I heard all kind of horror stories. And because of that I always hesitated to buy anything from my out-of-country trips. What is your experience with Turkish customs? Am I worried for no reason, that I can buy a sword and put it in my bag and return to Istanbul via airplane without any problems; or is is as bad as I'm told?

21st November 2014, 04:19 PM	#2
Jens Nordlunde Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Europe Posts: 2,718	The only thing I can tell you is, that every time I have bought something in England it was examined by the English customs, as well as by the Swiss customs, and I had to fill in formulars stating thet it is more than 100 years old, that it has no cultural value and, and, and... None of the weapons I have imported had ivory hilts. Lets say the the English customs think the hillt is of plastic, not likely but just let us say so, what when it comes to the Turkish customs? They also know the CITES rules. It is really a very unfortunate situation you are in, and I dont know what I would do. If the sword is in England and you dont what to wait/pay for the CITES certificate, it may be better to sell it in England. Painful no doubt, but better to get your money back than loose both money and the sword - and maybe get a fine as well. I am sorry that I cant help you, I wish I could.

21st November 2014, 08:19 PM	#3
erlikhan Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Istanbul Posts: 452	Jens, Turkish customs don't check most of the incoming passangers & bags. Even if they do, I know they mainly try to catch black money,drugs, electronics, phones, furs etc. If they see some raw ivory or rhino, of course they will seize them and will interrogate you. But none of the officers will doubt if an antique Turkish sword's hilt is original old or might be a Trojan horse used for ivory smuggling or something likewise. I don't have any hesitation about Turkish leg of the trip. If I tried to take a walrus hilted antique sword out of Turkey with me, I would probably get in trouble but not particularly because of the walrus hilt but because it can be categorized as a cultural national asset as a whole item. I didn't get one thing. You say English officers always examined your swords. You declared the swords yourself at the check in counter ?