Fat Cow Importing Welsh Dresser

[cath jones]

I have a 200 year old oak welsh dresser that i would like to ship out toNZ
Any ideas how to go about it - does it need to clear MAF etc. or is wodden furniture not allowed in.

[MotherBear]

Hi Cath,

You can take wooden items into NZ, but the crucial thing is to have your dresser checked for woodworm and other beasties. MAF will go over it quite thoroughly I would imagine, especially because of its age. Usually they are averse to any untreated wood which might harbour the odd nasty, but, if your dresser is treated and free from suspicious holes and other signs of insect invasion, I'd hope it would be OK.

There's a bit about the MAF procedure here .

[Glenda]

We brought quite a few bits of old and antique furniture into NZ, including a 400 year old blanket chest, Victorian sideboard and a table - all riddled with woodworm holes. Needless to say, the woodworm was not active, but they did not look at it anyway.

[Ace]

Yes, it will very likely need to clear MAF. We brought in a bunch of antique wood furniture, and it was all inspected.

As far as how to do it -- around the time the shipment arrives, you will need to fill out an "unaccompanied baggage" declaration form to start the process. Once it clears customs, then MAF will have a look at the inventory of your shipment and pick out the items that they want to inspect. They charge a small fee based on the number of items (my last container had 36 items inspected and the fee was $180).