Buying Bronze Sculpture 101: Shipping Tips and Cost

Shipping a large piece of bronze sculpture or fountain is no small task. Many times, the cost of shipping can be a deal breaker when a piece needs to be shipped across country. Bronze is heavy, especially when you're dealing with life-size works. Most people don't realize the cost involved and often directly compare the shipping cost to the price they paid for the statue or fountain itself. We encourage our customers not to do this for two reasons; first, you're liable to miss out on an incredible price and second, the shipping cost we're able to offer is often far and away better than you would pay as an individual. We often recommend brokers like Blue Grace Logistics or Diversified Transportation Services who can get the lowest rates by bidding the job to competing companies. Also, you must take into account the work that goes into getting your bronze ready for shipment. Each piece must be carefully wrapped and crated, with the crate being completely tailored to each work of art. This service is often free. In fact, if you ever need to ship a piece yourself you'll want to be sure to put it on a pallet base for easy moving, and build a secure crate with a lot of supports for the piece so it won't move around during it's journey. Not doing so will most likely result in damage to your sculpture or you may not be allowed to ship it at all. A good way to know if you're getting a good deal on shipping is if the amount is pre-paid or collect. If it's pre-paid the company has most likely added a pecentage over the estimate they received to cover themselves, but this means you may be paying an extra couple hundred dollars you didn't need to. The same holds true with "Free Shipping"; generally this just means that the cost of the shipping has been added in to your price, with the same mark-up you'd find with the pre-paid. We like doing freight collect. It ensures that the customer only pays the exact amount due and eliminates the upcharge we would have to include. This way, the customer knows they're not being taken for more money than needed. At bigbronze.com we want our customers to feel they are getting the maximum savings we can provide, be it through us or an outside broker.

('’)