The Reality of International Purchases... Hannover M15 WATERLOO and US Customs

Last year, I got a Hannoverian M15 helmet with the WATERLOO bandeau from France (pic attached). However, the auction house listed it at its full value and labeled it as a "casque spitze" on the customs declaration. To my surprise, it was seized by US Customs for being labeled as alcohol. They said it was a cask of spritzer wine and needing an alcohol import license... sounds like a load of BS. Lets say I am very familiar with the customs process as part of my job. When packages are flagged, it is typically done by random inspection (every 10th, etc) and is ultimately the discretion of the Customs Agent. There is very little accountability of the item once it is flagged for inspection. This means that it is very possible for agents to take a package back to their desk and send it for disposal for whatever reason (or take it home). Worst part is, that insurance will not pay out because they did not insure a casque of alcohol, and there is no tracking for a helmet (as far as how they see it). I have tried all my options, I am just out of everything for it. The best thing is to be smart next time. I hope this helps someone make better choices than I did when mailing overseas.

Here are some things I will do differently next time:
-Ensure they label the package as a "safety helmet". Make the contents less appealing for a thief at US customs.
-Make sure the shipper sends you a receipt with the package contents included on the receipt (necessary for insurance)
-The shipper is less likely to care, so keep them transparent. Make sure to get documentation as to their payout from insurance if something does happen. They are the benefactor (not you as the recipient), but you pay for it, so don't get caught with a partial payment.
-I will continue to buy insurance for large purchases.
-Use AMEX if you can. They have the best customer protection.

If you see this helmet for sale elsewhere in the world, please kindly let me know.

Gabe

-So sad. Strange Modus operandi.... One could expect that the unique zip-code would stay traceable....

Khukri said:

-So sad. Strange Modus operandi.... One could expect that the unique zip-code would stay traceable....

Click to expand...

Since Customs "determined" there was alcohol in the package without an alcohol import license, I can't track it anymore because the item has already been "destroyed", or more likely stolen by someone at Customs. I can't even get information from Customs on it.

Is this what American rule of law and democracy looks like?

Eichenblatt said:

Is this what American rule of law and democracy looks like?

Click to expand...

I'd say generally no, but there are unfortunately a few bad eggs it seems.

ussguppy said:

I'd say generally no, but there are unfortunately a few bad eggs it seems.

Click to expand...

Misappropriation of a consignment by customs in this way is criminal.

Gabe,

I'm very sorry to hear you lost your new helmet, too bad. And thank you for alerting us about this kind of thing. The first time I heard about “miss labelling” a helmet as alcohol during inspection, unbelievable. To me this is indeed extremely bad luck, which I can see no solution to it... if it is actually theft…
I had dealt multiple times with the customs of UK, US and China, never a pleasant experience. They’ve lost my precious originals, charged unreasonable high import taxes and some unbelievable delays!

What a sad news !
I had in the past some troubles with a helmet without invoice and the French customs didn't want to be comprehensive, waiting for the missing document. The helmet gots back to USA one time and a second time. I really thought the parcel was lost or stolen but ultimately it arrived.
Did the auction house Soissons directly send the parcel ou do you use an society for the shipping ?

I recently bought a helmet from a forum member and we agreed to devalue its worth in shipping paper, thus paid low customs, so that worked out for me, and very happy with it, but asked myself if I took a risk by putting low value on it if it got lost or is insurance on parcel not coupled to those?

It appears once again that there are also collectors among government employees who supplement their collection in nefarious ways.

That is just terrible and infuriating

You have my deepest sympathy for your loss, she was a beauty

michiel said:

I recently bought a helmet from a forum member and we agreed to devalue its worth in shipping paper, thus paid low customs, so that worked out for me, and very happy with it, but asked myself if I took a risk by putting low value on it if it got lost or is insurance on parcel not coupled to those?

Click to expand...

like 2nd.Leibhusar said; " there are collectors among government employees"... and they do learn from what we put on a public forum....!

Thise story conviences me, I lost a 2000 euro parcel on a employee of DHL.
It was my first parcel to be send since I lived in France...
And it only at to go to Poland.
But it got stuck for weeks at a distribution site in Lyon.
In that time someone called me to ask what was in the parcel.
Telling them it was a collectible wasn't enough, I had to be verys pecific.
It was a WWII Alter art schirm ....and I never heard of it since... despite all my, and the inssurance compagny, efforts.
So that made it the second DHL parcel lost in less then a year, the first one holding over 10 k collectibles coming from HH sales room.
I do not work with postale services anymore, or as little as possible.
And when I 'll be selling my collection it will be with a auction house, and I can all ready tell you wich! And it won't be HH! ;-)

Thank You, These tips will probably come in useful down the road for me.
Sorry about your helmet though, that was a good piece.

I am always nervous when a historic irreplaceable and one of a kind item is with the "mail".

ussguppy said:

Last year, I got a Hannoverian M15 helmet with the WATERLOO bandeau from France (pic attached). However, the auction house listed it at its full value and labeled it as a "casque spitze" on the customs declaration. To my surprise, it was seized by US Customs for being labeled as alcohol. They said it was a cask of spritzer wine and needing an alcohol import license... sounds like a load of BS. Lets say I am very familiar with the customs process as part of my job. When packages are flagged, it is typically done by random inspection (every 10th, etc) and is ultimately the discretion of the Customs Agent. There is very little accountability of the item once it is flagged for inspection. This means that it is very possible for agents to take a package back to their desk and send it for disposal for whatever reason (or take it home). Worst part is, that insurance will not pay out because they did not insure a casque of alcohol, and there is no tracking for a helmet (as far as how they see it). I have tried all my options, I am just out of everything for it. The best thing is to be smart next time. I hope this helps someone make better choices than I did when mailing overseas.

Here are some things I will do differently next time:
-Ensure they label the package as a "safety helmet". Make the contents less appealing for a thief at US customs.
-Make sure the shipper sends you a receipt with the package contents included on the receipt (necessary for insurance)
-The shipper is less likely to care, so keep them transparent. Make sure to get documentation as to their payout from insurance if something does happen. They are the benefactor (not you as the recipient), but you pay for it, so don't get caught with a partial payment.
-I will continue to buy insurance for large purchases.
-Use AMEX if you can. They have the best customer protection.

If you see this helmet for sale elsewhere in the world, please kindly let me know.

Gabe

View attachment 45685

Click to expand...

Sad story
I understand your loss
Reference HH
they always declare full value
I won a very expensive item at HH
all went well
except some many months later
I get a letter ( bill ) from the State of Tenn.
they had picked up on the HH invoice at customs
and they billed me for Tenn. state sales tax of 9.75 %
so I had to pay them $ 3,000 in taxes
and they even tacked on a late fee
so big brother is watching us collectors
Steve

I had the same experience as Steve. First the customs fee, which was for a helmet from France that was clearly marked as an antique of more than 100 yrs old. Then 9 months later, the state got me with 6.5% sales fee. It turns out that U.S. Customs alerts the state! With some work, I was able to get the penalty reduced. But now I’m labeled as an “Importer”

Maybe good news: I understand Hermann Historica is going to set up an operation in the U.S. if successful, it will greatly alleviate the Customs mess. .

Dosty

festwagner said:

What a sad news !
I had in the past some troubles with a helmet without invoice and the French customs didn't want to be comprehensive, waiting for the missing document. The helmet gots back to USA one time and a second time. I really thought the parcel was lost or stolen but ultimately it arrived.
Did the auction house Soissons directly send the parcel ou do you use an society for the shipping ?

Click to expand...

They have an agreement with a shipper. Many shippers don't even want to deal with US Customs, and I don't blame them.

What a nightmare! My condolences for the loss of this rare helmet. My recent wappen purchase was opened by CN customs and held for 10 days. Obviously, I was “freaking out” as this had never happened before. Fortunately, I did receive the wappens in the end.

I know this doesn't happen often, but this is the reason why I'm scared to death by the thought of ordering an overseas item. My last overseas purchase was a relic panzerfaust that ended up getting lost by the postal service...