Insight on Seal Skin sporrans please.

[Clan McKinnon]

I see seal skin sporrans on ebay and wonder to myself... if someone in the US were to win the acution what would happen? Would they pay and it just show up at the door or would some funky action take place to the extent that the buyer may even come to some added circumstances? If anyone has insight I would be glad to hear it.

Thank you in advance.

[ccga3359]

FedEx and UPS might refuse to ship it. It might be stopped at customs and refused entry. It may depend on how the shipper identifies it. I highly doubt that US customs has seal sniffing dogs (other than our Wompet). Then again is it worth the risk? I do not know US law but you would be in receipt of a banned product. A bovine sporran looks (but does not feel) like seal. You do have a plethera of handsome sporran availiable. Check out Scottish Tartans Museum in NC.

[csbdr]

I won one once (honestly forgetting about the ban until hanging out here reminded me) and the seller refused to ship it when he found out where I was.

[wvpiper]

Retailers in the UK will not ship them to the US. I suppose if you bought one from a private auction, there is a chance that they wouldn't know any better. But, there's always the chance it will be confiscated by customs officials.
I agree it isn't worth the risk

[Dan R Porter]

http://macdonald-sporrans.com/sealskin-ban

I checked this out earlier. I am still confused though...

[ccga3359]

http://macdonald-sporrans.com/sealskin-ban

I checked this out earlier. I am still confused though...

The EU has banned sealskin (unless culled by the Inuit). The US has banned sealskin since 1972 (correct me if I'm wrong). You could no doubt wear and trade in antique sealskin sporrans but you'd better be able to verify the age or face confiscation. Like the handsome fella said in post #2 there are alternatives to sealskin sporrans.

[Dan R Porter]

Grants of all people knows about alternative sporrans.

[raibeart_dubh]

This topic has been discussed here a few times before. I suggest that if you want an official government answer, you should contact the U.S. Customs Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. You will have an answer straight from the horse's mouth.

[Dan R Porter]

And be prepared for the friendliest, speediest service ever from U.S. customs!

And call from a prepaid phone, in a busy area of town, do not give your real name, and after your on hold for twenty minutes and finally get an answer, throw the phone into a trash can and zig-zag home.

[JolyStNicholas]

When I bought mine, it was delivered to my front door, marked "Used Sporran"
and it was never oped by customs. The seller was from Northern Ireland. I never had a moments trouble getting it. It has been a while, before the ban discussion started on here I think.