Tiny Bubbles
w00t! Reader Big Blue Bug, down there in the comments, promised me a Don Ho ukulele headstock inlay in return for some Don Ho art.
Sadly, I cannot accept the gift. You know what they’re doing to people who export shell inlay these days?
This CITES enforcement thing is a trip; I’ve heard some horror stories from people trying to import antique instruments with ivory, bone and pearl inlay.
Either that, or totally no big deal, depending on who you talk to. Which tells me it’s probably another thing that individual Customs agents have a lot of autonomy over. One bureaucrat with a hair across his ass on a Monday morning can make a lot of lives miserable.
All’s I know is, I tried to buy some pearl from StewMac and they can’t ship the stuff outside the US. But DePaule can do it because they ship directly from their supplier in Viet Nam.
Yep. It’s another one of those “international” treaties that somehow manages to crush trade in one country and toss it to another. I’d call it an unintended consequence, but I’m not at all sure it is.
Anyway, I’ll be cutting my own inlays, but here’s a little Don Ho lovin’ for BBB, just for being awesome. Mwah.
June 13, 2012 — 11:04 pm
Comments: 5