Shipping a Roman statue or helmet from Rome: costs, customs, blades and returns

The three zones: cost and delivery time

Online orders go through our Etsy boutique: shipping is free in Italy, €15 to the European Union and €40 to the rest of the world, and Etsy shows the estimated delivery date before you pay. Estimates run from dispatch, not from the order; we dispatch within 1–2 working days of payment, always tracked.

• Italy — free, 5 working days.
• European Union — €15, 1–10 working days, to all 26 other EU member states.
• Rest of the world — €40, 1–15 working days, to every other destination; decorative blades are the exception (see below).
• In Rome — buy in the shop at Via Cavour 280, open every day 10:00–20:00: nothing to ship.

These delivery times are those of most pieces; for decorative blades and a few others, Etsy shows the estimated delivery date before you pay.

How the piece is packed

Every piece is packed by hand with protective materials. All are made in Italy, except the Roma SPQR mosaic (€5,000), stone with 24-karat gold leaf, declared Made in the Vatican, and the boxed Maximus Decimus Meridius figure, whose origin is not stated.

We publish a size or a weight only where a product page states it, such as the mosaic's 28 x 36 cm or the approximate height of some statues and busts. As a rough guide, a sword or most of our statues weigh about 1.5 kg. For the 75 cm Lady Justice (€650) or the Roman muscle cuirass (€330), ask us: we measure and weigh it for you.

Customs outside the EU: who pays

All prices include Italian VAT, so inside the European Union there is nothing more to pay. Outside the EU, the destination country may charge customs duty and import taxes to the recipient: they are not included in the shipping cost and are not collected by us. Only your national customs authority can tell you the amount in advance.

Contents are declared for what they are: modern reproductions, never antiques.

Blades: where a pugio or a gladius cannot go

Daggers and short swords are the exception. Ours are decorative replicas, not sharpened, but a double-edged blade is a collector's item in one country and a prohibited weapon in the next, and the fine reaches the importer: in 2026 it reached one of our customers in Switzerland. Since then blades ship only to countries we have checked against national law.

Blades ship to: Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, the United States, Canada and Brazil, and only to adults. Everywhere else they are blocked, including Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Australia and Japan: some countries ban daggers by shape, sharp or not, others require a permit a private buyer cannot realistically obtain, or leave the outcome too uncertain. Ask us to ship anyway and the answer is still no.

This applies to blades alone. The Roman gladius with scabbard (€180) and the SPQR pugio with eagle pommel (€65) follow the rule; the centurion helmet, collector edition (€200), the Maximus gladiator helmet (€200) and the Julius Caesar bust (€109) reach Tokyo or Sydney like any other parcel. A blade that travels is declared as a decorative, unsharpened replica, with a bilingual declaration in the box stating that it is a reproduction.

Buying in the shop in Rome

In Rome? Buy directly in the shop at Via Cavour 280, a five-minute walk from the Colosseum, open every day from 10:00 to 20:00: nothing to ship.

Returns: 14 days, conditions in full

Consumers resident in the European Union may withdraw within 14 days of receiving the order, without giving a reason (Italian Consumer Code, Legislative Decree 206/2005). Email imperivmart91@gmail.com within 14 days of delivery, quoting your order reference; send the piece back within 14 days of telling us, in its original condition and packaging; we refund within 14 days of receiving it, to the same payment method. Return shipping is at your expense, unless the piece arrived damaged or was not what you ordered: then we cover it.

Damaged in transit? Photograph the parcel and the piece and write within 48 hours of delivery: we replace it or refund you in full. Full text on the shipping and returns page.