Buying Bone from China: What the...???

I bought some bone saddles and nuts from a Chinese source through Amazon. That was 6 weeks ago. The goods finally arrived today a month and half later. On the package was a "customs declaration" form that appeared to be from the Netherlands (NL?). The country of origin stated it was from the PR China. There was an additional sticker in bright yellow stating:

"Goods not fulfilling conditions laid down in Articles 28 and Articles 29 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union."

Just for the hell of it, I tried looking up the relevant articles in the EU Treaty. The first one appears to have directives that are military in nature and the second one has to do with digital privacy issues. I don't see how this applies to ox bone from China. Also, I live in America and what would the EU have to do with a shipment from China to America?

All very odd. What a complex world we live in. Could an ukulele cause an international incident? Are ukuleles dangerous? Are ukuleles disrupting the European Union? Weaponized ukuleles??? I don't get it.

Must be that bone china stuff, or possibly a cowNET violation.

Maybe it's related to those t-shirts popular in uke circles that have appropriated the phrase from the Scarface movie with Al Pacino:

"say hello to my little fren..."

and Interpol suspects you are involved in weapons trafficking or something...

yes, I am full of crazy ideas! MUUUAAAAHHHAAA

My understanding is...
Its basically saying that the goods have not originated in the EU and therefore there is tax due on them (although this won't be chased due to low value). Probably came via Netherlands due to Amazon having a distribution hub there and probably cheaper to get large quantity of Chinese goods delivered to Europe and distributed/delivered from there....
but then again my understanding could be totally wrong :anyone:

JesterBlod said:

My understanding is...
Its basically saying that the goods have not originated in the EU and therefore there is tax due on them (although this won't be chased due to low value). Probably came via Netherlands due to Amazon having a distribution hub there and probably cheaper to get large quantity of Chinese goods delivered to Europe and distributed/delivered from there....
but then again my understanding could be totally wrong :anyone:

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I think this might be right. I went to a seminar on "green" building materials, and just how "green" they really are. So according to the speaker, most raw bamboo is shipped to Germany to be processed, and then distributed from there. It could be that the bone is shipped to somewhere in Europe to go through some process before it is distributed.

Off topic, but while bamboo is a renewable resource, shipping and processing it leaves a large carbon footprint. Something to think about when looking for environmentally friendly building materials.

Weapons of mass dysfunction?

Yeah I think that Amazon must have a distribution hub in the NL makes sense. Obviously the customs agents in NL were not amused about shipping bone nuts to the USA. Could this cause an international incident? "Netherlands demands return of illegal goods: American refuses to return his nuts." International incident ensues. Who would have thought building ukuleles could be so complicated.

I've been getting bone from Culpeper. Inexpensive and quality seems good. I like that natural and camel bone. Camel bone is harder than ox.

Michael Smith said:

I've been getting bone from Culpeper. Inexpensive and quality seems good. I like that natural and camel bone. Camel bone is harder than ox.

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You have a link for them Michael?

Edit: I think I found it. http://www.knifehandles.com

That's the place. I buy oversized and take them down with the drum sander. Keep in mind some of the bone is unbleached. You can always de grease in white gas if they have any grease. They have all kinds of weird bone, horn, etc.