Silberman v. United States

184 F. Supp. 260, 44 Cust. Ct. 197, 1960 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 25
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMay 4, 1960
DocketC.D. 2175; Protest No. 58/24634
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 184 F. Supp. 260 (Silberman v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Customs Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Silberman v. United States, 184 F. Supp. 260, 44 Cust. Ct. 197, 1960 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 25 (cusc 1960).

Opinion

DONLON, Judge.

This suit concerns the customs classification of an article included in an importation which the importer described, in the entry documents, as one case containing original paintings. The importer claimed that the entire importation was exempt from duty under paragraph 1807 of the Tariff Act of 1930, 19 U.S.C.A. § 1201, par. 1807.

Only one of the several articles included in the entered case is involved in this litigation. The other articles were pencil and crayon drawings, the work of the artist Picasso, which the collector admitted duty free under paragraph 1807, and two wood picture frames which the collector classified as manufactures of wood and assessed with duty at 15 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 412, 19 U.S.C.A. § 1001, par. 412.

The entry article that is before us now was described in the invoice, filed with the entry documents, as a Picasso mosaic composition. Following long-standing administrative practice and several court decisions which, over a period of years, have construed the tariff classification appropriate for mosaics, the collector, accepting plaintiff’s description of the article as a mosaic composition, classified this import undei? paragraph 218(f) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, T.D. 51802, as an article of colored glass, not specially provided for, dutiable at 30 per centum ad valorem.

Plaintiff’s protest recites three alternative claims, as follows:

1. For classification under paragraph 1807, free of duty.

2. For classification under paragraph 1547, at an “effective” duty rate, not specified.

3. If classification under paragraph 218 should be held the proper statutory classification of this article, then that duty should be assessed on the value of the materials of the importation, and not on the value at which the article was entered and appraised.

We shall first dispose of this third claim.

Plaintiff cites no law in support of the third claim but in her brief she refers, as to this point, only to a newspaper article.

Without deciding at this moment what the appropriate duty classification of this mosaic is, we point out that plaintiff entered it at a value of $4,514. Whatever else the collector did or did not do, at least he accepted the plaintiff’s valuation. Plaintiff did not appeal for reappraisement. Therefore, the appraised valuation (identical with entry valuation) has now become final for duty purposes. Sections 501, 503, Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, 19 U.S.C.A. §§ 1501, 1503.

These statutory provisions are not enforceable according to the whim or caprice of a collector, as plaintiff’s brief appears to assert. These are provisions which Congress has enacted and which the collector has no alternative save to enforce. It is Congress that makes the law.

Plaintiff’s third protest claim is without merit, and it is overruled.

We proceed now to consideration of plaintiff’s first and second claims.

Plaintiff’s first claim is that this mosaic is such an original work of art as Congress includes within the free entry provision of paragraph 1807, Tariff [262]*262Act of 1930. The 1959 amendment to paragraph 1807, mentioned by counsel in both briefs, is not effective with respect to this importation. Congress provided, in precise language, that the 1959 amendment was to be effective with respect to merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after the 30th day after September 14, 1959. Public Law 86-262, § 2(b), 73 Stat. 549. It is paragraph 1807 as it was prior to the 1959 amendment, on which plaintiff’s first claim rests.

Plaintiff’s second claim is for classification as such a work of art as Congress intended to include within the dutiable provisions of paragraph 1547. Plaintiff does not say on which of the several duty provisions of paragraph 1547 (as amended, or as modified from time to time, and effective in March 1958, when this article was entered) her paragraph 1547 duty claim rests.

The relevant provisions are as follows:

“Par. 1807. Original paintings in oil, mineral, water, or other colors, pastels, original drawings and sketches in pen, ink, pencil, or water colors, artists’ proof etchings unbound, and engravings and woodcuts unbound, original sculptures or statuary,_ including not more than two replicas or reproductions of the same; but the terms ‘sculpture’ and ‘statuary’ as used in this paragraph shall be understood to include professional productions of sculptors only, whether in round or in relief, in bronze, marble, stone, terra cotta, ivory, wood, or metal, or whether cut, carved, or otherwise wrought by hand from the solid block or mass of marble, stone, or alabaster, or from metal, or cast in bronze or other metal or substance, or from wax or plaster, made as the professional productions of sculptors only; and the words ‘painting,’ ‘drawing,' ‘sketch,’ ‘sculpture,’ and ‘statuary’ as used in this paragraph shall not be understood to include any articles of utility or for industrial use, nor such as are made wholly or in part by stenciling or any other mechanical process; and the words ‘etchings,’ ‘engravings,’ and ‘woodcuts’ as used in this paragraph shall be understood to include only such as are printed by hand from plates or blocks etched or engraved with hand tools and not such as are printed from plates or blocks etched or engraved by photochemical or other mechanical processes.”
“Par. 1547. (a) Works of art, including (1) paintings in oil or water colors, pastels, pen and ink drawings, and copies, replicas, or reproductions of any of the same, (2) statuary, sculptures, or copies, replicas, or reproductions thereof, valued at not less than $2.50, and (3) etchings and engravings, all the foregoing, not specially provided for, 20 per centum ad valorem.”

Paragraph 1547(a) was modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, T.D. 51802, and again by the Annecy Protocol of Terms of Accession to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, T.D. 52373.

The Gatt modification is as follows:

[Par. 1547(a) (1) and (3)] Works of art, not specially provided for:

Paintings in oil or water colors, pastels, pen and ink drawings, and copies, replicas, or reproductions of any of the same................10% ad val.
Etchings and engravings .10% ad val.

The Annecy modification is as follows:

[Par. 1547(a) (1) and (3)] Works of art, specially provided for:

Statuary, sculptures, or copies, replicas, or reproductions thereof, valued at not less than $2.50................10% ad val.

Paragraph 218(f), the provision under which the collector classified the importation with duty at 30 per centum ad valorem, as that paragraph was modified [263]*263by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, T.D. 51802, is in relevant part as follows:

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McGowan v. United States
56 Cust. Ct. 450 (U.S. Customs Court, 1966)
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Bluebook (online)
184 F. Supp. 260, 44 Cust. Ct. 197, 1960 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 25, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/silberman-v-united-states-cusc-1960.