moving things that maybe shouldn't be moved

I was wondering if anyone had any experience moving fragile objects overseas -- ie glass, crystal or china. I'm wondering whether to risk it.

Any advice welcome.

I have some china over 100 years old from my grandmother that I am also afraid to move at this point, and I won't bother to think about moving it until I have a nice display cupboard for it.

On the Shipping page of the site, there is a listing of firms who specialize in shipping art/antiques/collectibles and are members of the Association of Art and Antique Dealers. They might be worth looking at.

http://www.uk-yankee.com/shipping.php

I would also love to hear from others any tips or advice.

Welcome to the site melisma.

I can't help with the glass, crystal or china, but did manage to move several pictures in frames and very fragile and old glass Xmas ornaments.  I bubble wrapped everything and put the pictures in special picture frames boxes, and they all made here in one piece.

I used a shipping company that came and packed up everything I had. I have a lot of picture frames with glass and a couple of end tables that had glass inlays on the top and some crystal. And of course the rest of the glass items needed for daily use.

I, too, was worried everything would be shattered but everything arrived perfect and so well packed. Much better than I could have done.

Are you using a professional shipping service? If not, I would recommend it if only for their packing talents! But, of course, nothing is really guaranteed but you can buy insurance for the lot (in case the silly boat sinks!).

I have only moved small pieces with me, but I did bring my mother's crystal and glass Christmas ornaments. I wrapped them individually in bubble wrap, and then in a hard rubberlike plastic shoebox size box. I used probably 4 of those boxes for them. I just then packed them in a regular suitcase, and checked them in.  I didn't have a single casualty

I havn't moved my mother's china over here or my waterford crystal. I don't dare  I could probably use the same system, but could only move a few pieces per trip back home. So it would take ages to get it all here. There surely must be removers who could pack and ship it properly. I havn't bothered, as the china will end up going with my oldest daughter whenever she marries at some point anyway,, so it may as well stay over there.

I used a shipping company that came and packed up everything I had. I have a lot of picture frames with glass and a couple of end tables that had glass inlays on the top and some crystal. And of course the rest of the glass items needed for daily use.

I, too, was worried everything would be shattered but everything arrived perfect and so well packed. Much better than I could have done.

Are you using a professional shipping service? If not, I would recommend it if only for their packing talents! But, of course, nothing is really guaranteed but you can buy insurance for the lot (in case the silly boat sinks!).

Hi Lynne. I too am moving from Philly area-who did you use to pack your stuff?  Also coincidentally..my hubby is Scots too

Hi Lynne. I too am moving from Philly area-who did you use to pack your stuff?  Also coincidentally..my hubby is Scots too

I used http://www.omegashipping.com/ to move. Their rate at the time was $7.50 per cubic foot and a minimum of 200 cubic feet.  I didn't ship a lot but had tons of books/cd/clothes/etc and minimal furniture. That may be expensive but I got tired of looking and they seemed really nice and helpful.

They drove down from NY to Fairmont and packed everything and took it away...while I watched tv and ate pizza.   They also handle all the customs paperwork for you (which I found that other shipping companies didn't and you'd have to go to the port and fill it all out yourself   ). My stuff arrived surprisingly within like 2-3 weeks and they called to arrange delivery. They are also supposed to unpack everything and take away the packaging for you but since I was already moving into my partner's home, there was no place for my stuff...yet.   So I just had them pile it up in a spare room.

I was really pleased with the quality of the packing that they did. They even had cardboard wardrobes with a metal bar that they put all my hangered clothes on!!! And barely any had fallen off by the time it got to my new home!!  

Try them for a quote as I know how scared I was trying to find a shipping company as I had no idea how to go about it. They were really friendly and helpful about guessing how many cubic feet I would use. And their estimate wasn't that far off either!

Btw, we love York but would probably prefer living in Scotland! Pubs are open later!  

Good luck!!!

Great site Lynn!  I just asked them for a quote.  Anything has to be better than Allied that just sent me one for $8000 for a 3 bedroom house.  I still will get a couple put here.  We used travellef with Mayflower (Omega uses them) before and they did great work.

We used Allied Van Lines/Pickfords to ship us - they packed and shipped everything, including a lot of china, glass, pictures, pottery, antiques, etc.  Not one thing was broken!  I highly recommend them.  I think the total shipping cost was under $7000 for a 1200 sq. foot house worth of stuff.

We shipped via water and had several boxes and as many of you have noticed my nick name is litl u whch stands for little unicorn so I had to ship all my unicorns over you name it I probly have it made into a unicorn shape, and so far NONE of them are broke.  NOW I bubble wrapped the SH** out of them and wrapped towels around them and made sure to mark the boxes VERY FRAGILE but so far they all seem ok.

Well Allied are not as bad as I thought and their Atlanta office is pretty nice.  Still waiting on a final quote from them. I still don't know if it's worth it.   :-/

vnicepeeps, are you moving from the UK to the US? If so try companies like EuroGroup and PSS. They quoted me about £3,000 for a 3 bed house.

I was just in the US a few weeks ago and couldnt help but go furniture shopping with my mom, cos thats what we do - its what we're good at, and I found some furniture that I just loved. Now I love the stuff I have in the UK as well but the stuff I found in the US was just as good quality and didnt cost nearly as much as the stuff in the UK - plus there'd be no international shipping charge and we'd even get money back from the sale of the furniture in the UK. Seems to me that most of that stuff should just be sold off in the UK. Buy new in the US and you'll never miss your non-sentimental items from the UK. It could save you £3000.

Sarah

Going the other way MarsBar and I can tell you that for 5000 to 7000 dollars I would much rather buy new stuff.  Hell my stuff is not worth that much.  That's just for two bedrooms, one den and a dining room!

Thanks Lynne!