PCGS Grading - Aud$350 Tariff To Send Any Chinese Coin To The USA

I've made a few small submissions for PCGS grading via their agent Roxbury's in Brisbane Australia. Everything has gone smoothly, until today.

It's the first time I tried submitting a Chinese coin (1902 Hong Kong 50c) and I just received a call from Roxbury's stating there's a fixed AUD$350 (US$245) fee to send any Chinese coin to the USA. I was just stunned by this.

It's a flat tariff on a per package basis. If I'm the only one sending a Chinese coin in the bulk submission to the USA, I pay the full $350 fee.

Roxbury's rep was very nice to deal with and they gave me the option of either waiting to see if anyone else will submit a Chinese coin in the same package, or to just have the coin returned to me. I opted for a return, which Roxbury's graciously will do for free. The coin is probably in AU55 condition and probably has a retail value of AUD$500.

I asked if the fee was due to US tariffs or PCGS policy, and was told it's a tariff. Interestingly I have a 1949 Chinese banknote in the same submission and that wasn't raised as a problem. Is it only silver Chinese coins (and presumably gold) that attract a tariff?

I have sent Chinese coins to the USA ( ebay sale) via Australia Post and only paid the current 10% tariff, so maybe the $350 fee is charged by courier companies only?

So this post is a heads up to anyone in Australia (and presumably other countries) about the extremely large tariff.