I am in the US and have an older half set that has real ivory mounts on it. Someone in Ireland is interested in purchasing this half set. Will I have trouble with customs if I don’t have a CITES certificate? Is it even possible to get a CITES certificate for a set that was made in the 60’s and the maker is no longer alive?
Your best bet is to phone your local (nearest)CITES Office and get their advice as anything else offered on this board would be pure speculation only.It will depend on your story of acquisition of course,but a 60’s set may prove a little bit more harder to get certification for,but try none the less.If they say no then thats it isn’t it, ye can hardly blame them for wanting to protect ivory!
Uilliam
You can always say it’s imitation ivory! 
Glaub… they’re supposed to be trained to spot real ivory. Would you risk it?
Yep, and if they spot the ivory, I suspect they impound the pipes and then I am hosed.
No, i don’t think i’d risk it.
I think that the CITES certificate may not be attainable as they require proof that the set/ivory is over 100 years old or that the ivory was taken from a legal source, which would require the maker to demostrate via a receipt or something like it. You can take a chance and ship it, and if you do so, don’t mention bagpipes in the description, as customs is knowledgeable about what istruments typically have ivory on them, and certainly not ivory or even imitation ivory, as they might want to verify. I would just mention that it is a “woodwind musical instrument”, which is accurate, and cross your fingers.
Neil
I was going to buy an old set that had ivory (without documents) and it was suggested to remove the ivory and send it seperately with something non-piping related, this way, you wouldn’t risk ‘the pipes’ in the same shipment.
How important are the ivory fittings to the sale? You could always get a pipemaker to reproduce the fittings in faux ivory if you just want to sell the set and don’t care about the ivory per se.
djm
Is it not possible to just not mention the ivory? Do they open packages and inspect them now?
PD.
Patrick, no one wants to run the risk of having the pipes confiscated or having the ivory mounts sawn off by customs inspectors.
Has anyone ever heard of this happening?
PD.
No but Irish Customs did confiscate a Playboy that I had sent to Ireland years ago. Maybe wrap the pipes up in Playboys and they would only notice those and then stop them from going through?
Only heresay…
Didn’t someone recently say the mounts of one set were hacksawed off and the pipes sent on to their destination ??
Previous discussion:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=19987&highlight=ivory&sid=956fe801fab8e6564c4209cfd7b68dc6
That’d be a very malicious method of them attacking the problem… it’d be one way for them to shorten their own life expectancy I can tell ya 
PD.
Wolvy- I will gladly fly over as your courier for a small fee and hand carry them for you to their final destination. I can even see if the TSA folks will allow more than one musical instrument as carryon-other thread on carryon luggage. I know you’re busy at work so I’m just trying to help out Gotta burn PTO somehow 
fel
I was thinking the same thing. If it’s possible to remove the ivory fittings without breaking them, they could be shipped separately or carried in by someone going to Ireland. I’m not sure if it’s worth the risk and the bother. The best thing may be to sell the set in the US.
g
It’s a rather ridiculous affair these days, with regards to musical instruments anyway, and the pipes, in this case, the ivory is already taken from the poor elephant, and it is a terrible waste, naturally, but to add to that waste by hacksawing it off and throwing it away, just seems a meaningless gesture.
As I said at the beginning everything is pure speculation,not only that ye are being encouraged by some to break International Law!! thats just plain stupid and is easily said by people who are not at risk in any way,nor is it their set. Wot sort of forum is this?On a more serious note what do ye think Cites or Customs or even poor ol Dale would think if they were reading this encouragement to lawbreaking?If anything ,if this became common knowledge with the authorities, then every feckin set travelling through customs regardless wether it had "ivory"or no would at the very least be delayed and some o ye will know how frustrating that can be!!!Shoot frae the hip if ye must but don’t shoot yersels in the foot!!!
Wolvy,for Christ sake just go to… http://www.cites.org/
They are the only people who can help ye in this.By the by some carriers will not ship ivory Cites Cert or not.So ye might have to shop around to find one.
Slan Go Foill
Uilliam
You could safely ship the half set as-is, long before the Forum will ‘let up’ on this issue.