Advice on sending some silver coins to the USA?

[Alex944]

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

 

[sixgun]

"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.

[Alex944]

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!

[KevjustKev]

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

Edited July 8, 2022 by tallthinkev

[kena]

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.

[SilverPlatinum]

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 July 10, 2022 by SilverPlatinum

[Alex944]

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 July 13, 2022 by Alex944
typo

[kena]

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/