At 12:15 PM 5/4/99 -0400, you wrote:
>I have to make a confession. I have expanded my photo gear in the medium
>format.
>
>While in Tokyo, I purchased a used Mamiya 6 with two lenses. One came with the
>body and the other is a telephoto I purchased separately.
>
>The Mamiya 6 is a rangefinder and it only has a total of three lenses. I have
>had the standard and the telephoto. The third is the wide angle 50mm which I
>received today from Japan.
>This also is a used lens I purchased from the store where I purchased the body
>and the standard lens and had my brother pick up the lens and mail it to me by
>the International Express Mail Service with proper insurance.
>
>The US Customs opened the package and passed it free. The purchase price of
>the
>lens was 52,000yen, which is roughly $433. I understand that in the US a
>person
>can receive automatically any goods up to $100 per day customs free from
>overseas.
>
>Does anyone have an explanation for this customs free treatment? Is it
because
>the lens is used? My brother did not identify the lens as used, but while the
>lens looks really good overall, it has a few brassing marks on the metal rim
>above the mounting ring, which makes it obvious to the inspector that it is a
>used lens.
>
>Perhaps there are others who can tell us about their experience with the
>US/other countries Customs with respect to photo equipment.
Was there a value declared by the shipper? Maybe it was low. Maybe there
simply is very low or no duty on photo equipment, since there are no
domestic manufacturers of same.
Denton
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