Export furniture to U.S.

[RNelson]

I'm in the Chaco visiting my wife's family and her parents have offered to give us several pieces of furniture, which probably date from the 1890s. We would like to ship these to the U.S. Are there export controls with furniture, as with art?

 

[ghost]

If you identify these as simply household belongings and not antiques and ship them with a mover, you might be OK. You have a 50/50 chance. However, be prepared to pay a bribe to customs as they will often identify objects of value and begin the "it's not legal" dance. They invent dozens of obstacles, all of which magically vanish when the paperwork looks like cash.
And yes I do speak from experience.

 

[SaraSara]

Get a good, reputable international mover - they have their own ways to deal with customs agents. I don't know whether they keep them on payroll or what, but they get shipments through.

 

[frassinetti]

Shipping Art, Antiques and all that falls into these categories is an Exact Science and an Art, to say the least …. To say there is bribery or to try it with a 50 50% chance is to fall into the hands of those who accept bribery or bribe. Anything legal can be shipped from any part of the World included Argentina, just follow the Rules & Regulations. I have been in the business of Arts and Antiques for a long time know, and though anything can happen, being well prepared beforehand allows you to move and pass any obstacle. Look for a reliable Shipper-Exporter-Custom Broker and you are on your way, …….. Hope I have been of some help!

 

[French jurist]

The theory : Anything that is antique should get an authorization to export.
http://www.cultura.gov.ar/direcciones/?info=detalle&id=51&idd=5

The real world : It can be quite tricky. Process to get the authorization starts at Banco Ciudad in the centro. There you should get a tasacion (estimation).
Maybe can you bring there pictures of what you are planning to export and ask what they think.
There's a small tax to pay upon the value (5% if I recall).

It can get costly :
- the tax
- the customs broker (despachante de aduana)
- the shipping
- the insurance (I know an antique dealer here who shipped a whole container to Miami, he didn't opt for insurance and lost everything... ouch)

 

[RNelson]

Thanks to everyone for replying! We should probably wait until next year, then, to ship the furniture because we won't have time to move the furniture to BsAs & then do all the tramites. Now that I understand the rules a little better, there are 15-20 family heirlooms of mostly sentimental value that we'll have to at some point register for export through this potentially costly and onerous process.

For the furniture, can anyone recommend a mover who could handle the customs issues? What about artwork? We will email the Secretaria de Cultura about this to see if there is a minimum value, etc., and will post the reply (if we get one!).

Also, we were going to take a brass samovar and coffee tray back to the U.S. on our return this month. Bad idea?

 

[SaraSara]

We used Lift-Van International to store furniture and to move to the States and back - they did an excellent job. It's a long-established firm, very knowledgeable. Their agents should be able to answer your questions.

http://www.liftvan.com/ingles.htm

It might be best to label your furniture "used" instead of "heirloom". There's no need to advertise that they are antiques.

As for the samovar, over the years I took lots of antiques to the States in my suitcases and never had any trouble. There may be a small import fee to pay if the declared value is over US$500 - that was the limit five years ago, but it may have changed.

Good luck...