Coin shipments from Germany to USA?

I've been trading coins on Numista recently, and a lot of the people I trade with live in Germany. I get the coins just in a regular envelope and it takes a few weeks to arrive. Its never gotten lost before, but the only problem is that USPS shipping costs so much.

 

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I also prefer having them sent via post/ reg. letter/ no value. It takes way longer, but I can wait to save 20 K in extra duties/ had stuff been sent via FEDEX all year. The savings = A FDC Aureus/ common Empress/ Emperor

 

I never thought my follow-up would be this late, but the ending is a happy one!

BACK STORY - The provenance of my EID MAR begins with the 1917 Hess auction of the Johann Horsky Collection. Several years ago, I decided to try to acquire an original of that catalog as well as the other 3 auction catalogs that include my coin. I was excited when I saw one of the Hess catalogs in an auction a couple of years ago. I bid aggressively (I thought) but lost.
Thinking I had missed my only chance, I couldn’t believe that Solidus had another one in an auction in January. This time I bid VERY aggressively and won!

THE SAGA - I was somewhat concerned when I read the post by @DonnaML but was happy when I received a tracking update from USPS which had received the DHL shipment. My catalog was going to arrive on February 2nd! Only it didn’t. Nor did it arrive on March 2nd. So I started pestering the USPS to no avail. Imagine my surprise when it showed up - after 5 1/2 months!


Now if I can only find the other catalogs I need!

 

I ordered my first coin from overseas, Germany to be exact, on May 27th. It has only been a couple weeks but I'm starting to wonder if maybe it was a bad idea.

 

Hopefully we can celebrate its arrival before Labor Day(US).

 

My Secret Saturnalia gift came from overseas I believe and it never arrived. I still have hope that it will arrive before Saturnalia 2021
I hope this coin comes before then too!

 

I'm still waiting on a coin from Germany that was shipped in December. Still... these long delay stories keep me hoping!

 

Won a coin from Kuenker's March 22nd Auction. It arrived at my home in the US on April 27. Shipped via the postal service. This is about typical in my experience.

 

I have but they take up to 3 or 4 months

 

Ordering coins from overseas is very much like playing the roulette wheel. I've had shipments from Germany take over a month, while another, from Italy took about ten days. Shipping method and shipping service is important, of course.

For a while Deutsche Post reserved the option to ship mail by surface. I don't know if they are still exercising that option, now that travel is opening up.

Side note: Beware of Netherlands Customs. I sent a gift over there in April, by Priority Mal International. I must have messed up on the customs declaration form because they opened the package and are now demanding that a tax needs to be paid by the addressee. For the Netherlands, there is only a €45 maximum that can be declared for a gift declaration. Above that amount, a tax must be paid. It's quite a mess now.

Between this situation and my issue with US Customs at JFK (The Twilight Zone) regarding the Yemeni coin, this is already an interesting year for me, which I hope never happens again.

 

Be patient.

It is not unusual for overseas shipments from Germany and other countries to take a month or more.

How was your coin shipped? If registered mail was used, delivery can be delayed due to the security measures taken at each stop in the shipping process.

 

Won a couple of coins last month from Austria. Been traveling for over a week.
With the Tracking Info. it makes Hadrian look like a rookie traveler. Twelve
different places. Good news is that I'm supposed to receive this Wednesday.
I'm not holding my breath.

 

Regular old German(?) mail. Not registered. Luckily it is a very low value coin so I"m not super worried.

 

It seems that the foreign postal systems haven't gotten much better since 1967. I was a missionary for my church in Uruguay. My father would send me a check each month. The USPS cost about a dollar to send the mail to me. It would get to the country in about 3 weeks, then I would have to cash it at a bank that dealt in currency conversion from US dollars to Uruguayan pesos. One month, I didn't get a check. I had to "borrow" enough money to survive from the missionary headquarters. My father told me the check had been cashed. He accused me of trying to get more money. It wasn't until I got home a year later that I asked my father for the bank statements. Back then, the banks would give the returned checks with the statements. When I looked for the check that he said I had gotten, it was evident that the check had been stolen and the signature had been forged. I went to the bank and they said they couldn't do anything. Even after I showed my father the check, he didn't believe me. After that, we never had contact again.
I only tell you that, because there are many things that can cause problems with the mail. Always make sure your purchases are insured.

 

That's a very sad story. I'm sorry.

 

Sometimes, mail from Europe arrives quickly even when you don't pay extra for one of the courier services like DHL Express or Federal Express. I ordered my Nerva clasped hands denarius from Patrick Guillard in Paris on June 1, and paid by Wise (formerly TransferWise). He sent it out on June 2 by regular airmail, with shipping included in the price of the coin. I was expecting it to take weeks, but it was delivered to me in New York City with the rest of my mail in the afternoon of June 8, only six days later. Probably the fastest ever from anywhere in Europe when I didn't use a courier service.

 

Received my two coins from Austria today. In the 10 days they traveled,
they went to a dozen different stops. Makes Marco Polo look like he was
suffering from agoraphobia.

 

Once an international Registered Mail parcel reaches the US it is treated like First Class Mail. This per USPS protocol.

 

As I understand it, the handling of registered mail depends on a reciprocal agreement (or lack thereof) between the US and any given country. There is unfortunately no universal standard. That is why some international registered parcels require a signature and others simply show up in the mail box.

 

Of course this thread pops back up literally minutes after I order a coin from Germany.

The following is what I've noticed so far (all ordered within the last six months).
Fedex - have received multiple orders from Germany and France. All arrived within a few days.
DHL - received from the UK and Austria. Also arrived quickly.
Deutsche Post - took roughly 5 weeks, but it did get here
La Poste (France) - took about a month, but did get here
Swiss Post - I expected it to take a month, but it arrived in roughly a week

The shop for this latest coin charged $60 extra for shipping to the US, so I said "OK, but use Fedex." I just hope they do.

About 85% of my coins come from Europe. The ones I'm looking for seem to get bid up too high in the US.