I'm going to be moving across country soon, literally. (Alaska -> Midwest) I have to figure out how to get bullion there with me. Any suggestions or past experience doing this? I could put it in my truck and drive it, but I have to drive into and out of Canada. I could ship it with the moving company and list it has a high value item and hope it arrives or ship it myself maybe. I drove it up here when I moved here from the East coast 4 years ago but I have acquired more and I'm not too crazy doing that again, but I would. Roughly 300oz of silver and about 10oz of gold. Thoughts?
I would investigate sending it UPS insured for the full value. Transporting bullion would make me nervous.
The silver is worth approx 5K, the gold 13K. If you leave/exit the US, that's over the threshold you'll need to declare. Would it be cheaper to sell it in Alaska and buy the replacement at your destination?
Either figure out a way to ship it or sell it all and get it back later. Having that much in your car will not go over well at the boarder crossings.
I was going to check all the custom forms and see what I would need to do if I transported it myself. I really don't want to sell right now, however, I could dump the silver and hide the gold at the checkpoint!
Actually I have the same problem. And I'm Moving back to MA from Hawaii. When I moved to Hawaii.. I Shipped all my silver bullion and carried all my gold coins. But in my case I only had about 150 oz of silver and 3 oz of gold.
This may be a dumb question, but ... would that be a big deal? Yes, you need to fill out a form but AFAIK there is no duty that one would have to pay. Christian
Potentially a big deal. Depends on the customs agents you run into and what they think you’re doing. Canada can deny entry and any of them could just arrest you on the spot or it could just be straight up confiscated never to be seen again ect
I'm going to do some research on this. I tried to see what shipping methods I can use and I saw someone posted USPS doesn't insure bullion. I have a FedEx account so I'll check them out too though. Not sure what the declaring process is at the border.
That's not really a big deal. Shipping within the USA is relatively safe. I have shipped more than that is the past. Just put it in the US mail, registered. It will get there okay and it will almost certainly take longer than it takes you to do the drive.
Gold coins, medals, and bullion may be brought into the U.S. However, under regulations administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, such items originating in or brought from, Cuba, Iran, and Sudan* are prohibited entry. Copies of gold coins are prohibited if not properly marked by the country of issuance. The importation of counterfeit coins is prohibited. There is no duty on gold coins, medals or bullion but these items must be declared to a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officer. Please note a FinCEN 105 form must be completed at the time of entry for monetary instrumentsover $10,000. This includes currency, ie. gold coins, valued over $10,000. The FINCEN definition of currency: The coin and paper money of the United States or any other country that is (1) designated as legal tender and that (2) circulates and (3) is customarily accepted as a medium of exchange in the country of issuance. If you have doubt whether your gold/gold coin is considered a monetary instrument it is in your best interest to declare the item(s) with a CBP Officer, so you do not give a false declaration. now I just have to see what Canada says, I think shipping is looking more appealing.
Forget about carrying it thru Canada. Either take boat from Juneau to Seattle or put it in the mail. If it concerns you to put so much in one package then send several. If you are concerned about timing then package it up and ask a trusted person to mail it after you have arrived (no need to tell them the contents).
If it was me I`d get a car ferry from the most southerly part of Alaska to the most northerly part of mainland US thus avoiding Canada.
Seems to me mailing it to yourself is the easiest and safest way possible. If you purchased 300oz of silver from APMEX they would ship it with no problem (a Monster Box is 500oz). I recommend maybe breaking it up into 2 or 3 boxes. Maybe I'm missing something but seems easy. Better than trying to take it across the border and declare it with all those flags going up. Also your going state to state Alaska to the Midwest, just so happens Canada is in-between.
Nothing good is going to come from trying to drive 20kish of bullion through two countries and multiple states in a car
It kind of is in regards to transporting value like that. All the police have to do is say they believe it came from drugs and they can take it without any proof. Customs has even more leeway.