sending important negatives overseas

[adrian tyler]

i may have to send an important (for me) body of original negatives overseas, but i am loathed to just "fed-ex" them due to the lack of responsibility in event of loss (warsaw convention etc.) and of course the horror stories we've all heard.

does anyone know of an alternative, super safe way to transport valuable originals?

[domenico Foschi]

you go with the negatives.

[Ron Bose]

Call up Christies or Sotheby's or museums and ask them how they ship their expensive stuff.

[Deniz]

send the dupes..

[Michael Kadillak]

No amount of money can buy replacements for your hard work and that is the mindset of the typical courier. Nobody can guarantee the deilvery 100%.You recorded a unique set of time and place variables with your work that can never be replicated. Unless you can dupe them and keep the originals or go with them as Domenico recommended, I would say that this would be a case when the response would be a respectful "I am terribly sorry, but I just do not feel comfortable in accomodate you with this request".

[tim atherton]

Adrian,

what is the need to actually send original negs?

[Bruce Watson]

Please excuse my impertinence, but I've got to ask. Why are you shipping film overseas? For scanning? Surely there are people in Madrid who can do the work. If not, I know there are people in other European countries who can.

But, if you have to ship the film somewhere beyond a reasonable travel distance for you, consider not shipping it all in one package. Split the film up into multiple packages, insure each for some smallish amount (not for them to repay you what all your work was worth that they lost - just enough to make them track the package [which alone seems to improve the odds of delivery, at least for UPS and FedEx in the USA]), and let the people on the receiving end know what you are doing, and that you want them to do the same - treat them as separate orders and send them back to you separately.

This technique does good and bad - it gives the shipper more chances to loose a package (since there are more packages). On the other hand, the odds of the shipper loosing *all* the packages is very low.

Unfortunately, you have to decide what probabilities you like, and play them.

[adrian tyler]

yes, i am looking to ship to the us a series of 24 photographs to get them drum scanned for output here in madrid on a lightjet, large, for exhibition purposes. i have found that at least here in spain no one can handle scanning negs for photographic output to match the scanning houses in the us. i have been very happy with the work of wci in oakfield ca. but that is one hell of a trip for me and i have commitments here which would making even expensive shipment cost effective, i hate travelling too.

i work closeley to the art comunity here and my wife has an old master painting restoration studio here so i was going to make enquiries to the shippers of this type of painting.

my question really is a call for anyone with a similar dilema who has had practical experience shipping "valuable" photographic originals, and to see is there are infact any specialised companien in the field.

thanks

[adrian tyler]

that should read

"i am looking to send 24 original NEGS to have them drum scanned"

[Martin Patek-Strutsky]

There are some agents specialized in transporting jewels, collector watches etc. internationally. Would try one of these. If I remember correctly the price is about 2-3 times higher than Fedex/UPS rates.

Used them once to send a watch for repair to Switzerland because no other carrier was willing to accept the insurance value. Sorry, but I forgot the name of the company.

[David A. Goldfarb]

FedEx and UPS handle such things all the time, and WCI ships prints and originals by the same means. When my parents were in the jewelery business, they shipped and received all sorts of costly items by UPS. I'd recommend not sending them all in the same batch (you wouldn't want to lose a whole show!), and you might look into having them insured separately (i.e., not by the shipper) for loss or damage in transit.

[Struan Gray]

Momart in the UK *had* a great reputation until they let their BritArt warehouse burn down. They were widely recommended by various curator and art historian friends, and indeed did a great job, when I was looking to move some delicate large canvases within the UK. They took care of crating and insurance, two of the harder issues to get right on my own. I would use them again, even if they did set fire to Tracey Emin's tent.

www.momart.co.uk.

[Bill_1856]

Whatever you eventually do, be sure to scan them (or have them scanned locally) before you send them away.

[adrian tyler]

thanks struan, i'll ask them for a quote despite the fire, you know maybe jake and dean chapman could resurect something from the ashes. good idea too bill.

i'll update the post when i have more information.

thanks again to all