<p>Has anyone run into difficulty traveling through international borders this summer? </p>
<p>My S crossed the border (from Canada to US) by land this past Sunday and, much to my relief, he didn’t have any troubles. We had appraisals done for both of his bows (just in case) and in the description the bowmaker specified that the ivory was mammoth. </p>
<p>Only one of his bows has ivory and I am thinking now that he has made it across the border he should leave it with someone (teacher?) over the Christmas holidays and just travel back home with his non-ivory bow.</p>
<p>I like that idea, BCVIOLINMOM. Traveling during the holidays is hectic enough and nerves are frayed, so if he can a avoid a hassle, by all means do so. Hopefully this whole mess will be straightened out, but given that it’s the US government, I’m not holding my breath.</p>
<p>My S just got back from overseas, and didn’t have any problems with his bows. I wonder if they have changed policies in light of some big incidents, the Budapest Festival Orchestra had a number of bows confiscated at US customs, even though they supposedly were pre cleared (from what I read, the bows ended up getting shipped back to Hungary). Doesn’t mean you won’t run into it, sadly, giving this kind of power to people who don’t know anything about instruments or bows, is license for abuse. Friend of my S’s has a pretty expensive violin on loan, and some TSA inspector decided she wanted to take it out of its case, more than likely curiousity, until his friend told her the violin was worth a million bucks, and if it got damaged it would be expensive to repair…</p>
<p>Do his bows have ivory on them?</p>
<p>One of them does, a tiny piece on the tip I believe. It is a modern german bow, not particularly expensive, but he said they really didn’t even look at it or ask about it. He also said among the more than a few people he knows who routinely travel overseas, some of whom have very old, expensive bows that have ivory, he hasn’t heard of any issues. I can’t guarantee that will always hold true, but from what I have seen it doesn’t sound like they are being total you know whats about it. One warning he got from a friend was the best route is not to attract attention, and go out of your way to make sure that when you clear customs they won’t search your bags and such, like bringing food into the country, which they are very, very tough with. He has heard anecdotally that if you get caught with things like food, they tend to subject everything else to scrutiny, too and would be likely to then question things like bows or maybe even what wood the instrument is made of. </p>
<p>Interesting report! I’m curious what the end of summer will bring–people are very anxious about the new executive order. </p>
<p>My S is at a camp right now with no internet or cell service so I haven’t asked him about the specifics of his border crossing. Will post an update next week once I can ask some questions. It is possible that having to deal with the I-20 (student visa) overshadowed their focus on his instrument. </p>
<p>Back from getting my S settled at IU so can now report on the border crossing in a little more detail. As mentioned in an earlier post, he took the train across the border. He said they asked everyone to go to a specific car on the train and take their documents but no luggage. So he left his violin in the overhead bin and they didn’t even know he was bringing a violin across the border. Not sure if this was an anomaly or whether this is the normal procedure on a train. </p>
<p>During the camp he was at they had masterclasses and one of the people giving the masterclass traveled across the border from Canada to the US in his car. At the border he was questioned about his bow. Apparently he told them it was plastic (it was not) and they believed him.</p>
<p>While I was away I read in one of the newspapers about the 2 US teenagers who, when traveling back across the border somewhere in Vermont, had their bagpipes taken away (despite having documentation that the ivory came from before that specific date used by CITES). They had been in Canada for a competition and were about to head to Scotland for another competition. Rather than leave everything, they took the bagpipes apart and just left the ivory pieces. Fortunately they were able to get the ivory back just before heading to Scotland but it cost them almost $600. </p>
<p>I think at this point it is safe to say that there is no consistency with the legislation which makes traveling into the US with ivory a very risky endeavor. </p>