Jump to content
  • The above Banner is a Sponsored Banner.

    Upgrade to Premium Membership to remove this Banner & All Google Ads. For full list of Premium Member benefits Click HERE.

  • Join The Silver Forum

    The Silver Forum is one of the largest and best loved silver and gold precious metals forums in the world, established since 2014. Join today for FREE! Browse the sponsor's topics (hidden to guests) for special deals and offers, check out the bargains in the members trade section and join in with our community reacting and commenting on topic posts. If you have any questions whatsoever about precious metals collecting and investing please join and start a topic and we will be here to help with our knowledge :) happy stacking/collecting. 21,000+ forum members and 1 million+ forum posts. For the latest up to date stats please see the stats in the right sidebar when browsing from desktop. Sign up for FREE to view the forum with reduced ads. 

Advice on sending some silver coins to the USA?


Recommended Posts

Hi forum,

one of my friends who lives in the US recently became a dad for the first time and as a small present i want to send 3 silver coins to him as a birth gift. These are all currency world coins (so no 999fs or constitutional). 
 

does anyone have any experience in terms of the customs process for sending silver coinage to the US? Will he be slapped with somE import/customs charges? I couldnt find much info online. Im of course happy to cover these costs but wondering if he has to pay them to get the package delivered.

hoping perhaps someone has experience with this  I appreciate your inputs!

all the best

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Gifts worth up to $100 may be sent, free of duty and tax, to friends and relatives in the United States, as long as the same person does not receive more than $100 worth of gifts in a single day."

Sending by Royal Mail you can ask for the customs declaration at the counter - a small slip to fill out. Fill out as gift - put something like 3 medallions, could even put 3 badges - give the spot price value plus a little bit more - don't put a big value on, not b/c of customs but b/c of theives. - make sure it is less than $100. Sign it. Attach it to the outside of your parcel.
i received a parcel in the post today - it was some coins - it was described as aluminium nails. There were no taxes on the parcel, it was for security purposes.

So much yarn, so little time.: Addressing international mail and ...

Disclaimer: Everything I post is for entertainment purposes only - it is not to be taken seriously. There is no intent to incite violence or hate of any kind, nor do I have any intent to incite any other crime or non-crime in any country in the world. It is not my intent to slander, harass or defame anyone dead or alive. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks a ton @sixgun, i appreciate that a lot. I am based in Ireland (republic) so i’ll have to sort out the customs form with An Post respectively, but the info you posted above should also be relevant for that. 
 

thanks again!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I sent coins to a friend in the US (silver or clad), I call them medallions on the customs form and put the value down as face value of the coin.

We have been doing this for over 13 years of trading.

For the form, I also group them by weighs to keep the folks are my local post office happy.

One item to note, the sender can't be a business address and when I asked about that, the customs folks said that businesses can't send of gifts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree, put the face-value of the coins.

This is what the governments value them if you go and redeem them from their federal banks.

So that what they get from us. Eye for an eye.

😡I always criticized the face-value on coins, I think they are very low and do not work well as gifts (as some people think that whatever face-value on the coin is the true value; I had to explain the other day to my nieces (after I gifted them some coins) the intrinsic/numismatic value of a coin, and whatever government put as face-value on it is misleading).

 

Edited by SilverPlatinum
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/07/2022 at 20:01, kena said:

put the value down as face value of the coin

Just for my clarification (since I intend to send world silver coins, so no Euro/Pound/Dollar denomination), you take face value based on denomination converted to $?

 

 

On 08/07/2022 at 07:53, tallthinkev said:

Pack it very well, even tape the sides of the envelope, sent some coins and some chocolate to friends. The sides had been cut, they got nothing, nicked within the US

Very sorry to hear that, but thank you for sharing that with me. I'll make sure to tape this up properly

 

On 10/07/2022 at 20:15, SilverPlatinum said:

I always criticized the face-value on coins, I think they are very low and do not work well as gifts (as some people think that whatever face-value on the coin is the true value; I had to explain the other day to my nieces (after I gifted them some coins) the intrinsic/numismatic value of a coin, and whatever government put as face-value on it is misleading).

I have to agree, but I think there's a reason behind the face values being present and low:

1) giving a precious metal coin face value avoids profit margin taxes when it comes to selling (at least in the EU), since it is technically currency.
2) They give them very low denominations to prevent loss of value. I don't recall this exactly but I'm pretty sure there was a police/court case in the UK because someone had a couple of those 50 pound and 100 pound silver coins (which at some stage, the value of the silver dipped below the denomination) and used them to pay for their gas. The employee of the gas station actually called the cops on that person (thinking it was fake money) and there was a whole case around it. Perhaps someone can link that article as I've read about it before on the forum. Giving reasonable/realistic denominations to the silver coins is harmful in the long run when the fiat currency that is denominated loses or gains opposed to the actual silver content of that coins.

I'd also say it's a nice way of educating your nieces. In my enthusiasm for coin collecting, I've also gifted coins to multiple people, but I've come to the realization that most people do not appreciate it as much because they don't fully understand what it is. It was a lot of fun to explain this to my niece and nephew, but it definitely landed on deaf-mans ears in some other scenario's.

Thanks again for sharing your insights and experiences everyone, I do appreciate it.

Edited by Alex944
typo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since I live in the UK, I convert the face value of the coins to UK pounds based using the first hit I get via Google Search.

So US dollars to UK pounds I search on us dollar to uk pounds, which meant a few times I paid more in postage than the converted face value of the coins.

I normally put the coins in a standard envelope or two, put these into a padded envelope, a note to the person saying hope you enjoy the gift, and seal the envelope.  Tape in up good.

If I am lucky, it is less than 5mm in height so it fits thru the letter size guide that the Royal Mail Post Offices has, since the rate for that seems to be lower.

Hopefully the clerk can read the customs form so they know what your are posting....but often they still ask.

Then the waiting game to hear from the recipient to know that the items arrived safe and sound.

Yes, I agree that many people would not appreciate receiving coins as a gift.

Here is a link to an article about one person who try to pay for petrol with a £100 coin.

https://metro.co.uk/2021/10/26/driver-arrested-for-buying-fuel-with-100-coin-wins-5000-damages-15486151/

Then there were the people buying a bunch of £20, £50, and £100 coins from the Royal Mint at face value and then deposited them at the bank to pay their credit card bill so they would get the airmiles.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3390519/I-buy-Royal-Mint-commemorative-coins-bulk-credit-card-gain-airmiles-cash-bank-s-refusing-accept-them.html

So that basically lead to these coin series being cancelled.....of course, it was not surprise to some people since similar things happened in Canada as well before the Royal Mint did their face value coins.

https://coinweek.com/world-coins/armageddonroyal-canadian-mints-20-for-20-silver-coin-program/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Cookies & terms of service

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. By continuing to use this site you consent to the use of cookies and to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use