United States v. Thomas

There were, imported at the port of San Francisco on the 2d day of September, 1910, two carved wooden columns, concededly works of art, and claimed to have been made in Italy more than 100 years before their importation.

Paragraph 717 of the tariff act of 1909 provides that such works of art shall be admitted free of duty if “produced more than 100 years prior to the date of importation, but the free importation of such objects shall be subject to such regulations as to proof of antiquity as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe."

Under the authority of paragraph 717 the Secretary of the…