I won't say that I'm an expert but I've had two pianos moved overseas
and an Orchestrelle, and I've been an "accomplice" in moving two more
(plus two Orchestrelles!).  I can give these comments about overseas
moving:

1. The closer you are to a port the cheaper it will be.  Moving overseas
is expensive no matter what you do, but land moving is probably the
biggest part of it.  I paid around $1500 to move an antique bed frame,
a grandfather clock, four cartons of rolls and the Weber Duo-Art grand
from California to Israel.  I paid $800 to move my Sohmer Welte upright
from Robin Pratt's house to Santa Maria, Calif., and it was $400 less
because I was willing to wait until they had someone coming.

2. Moving from the US is cheaper than moving from the UK.  Six months
after I moved the Duo-Art here, I had my Orchestrelle shipped from the
UK.  That move cost me 2000 pounds sterling (roughly $3500)!  You would
think it would be less because the distance is much less, but the cost
was high no matter what I did.

3. Check with a lot of companies.  Don't use a local mover or you'll
pay dearly for it.  I would recommend the large cities such as New York
or Los Angeles for consolidators.  When I moved from the US to Israel
around 15 years ago, I checked with the moving companies and was quoted
upwards of $10k to move everything.  I then asked my employer for a
recommendation of a relocation service and moved everything for $3k.

4. Get it in writing.  The companies that I dealt with lie.  It took
longer for them to put it on a ship than they promised, they told me
it was on its way and it was sitting in a warehouse, etc.  An example:
sea transport from Southern California takes two months.  I had a verbal
agreement with my shippers that they would pick up my Weber only when
they were ready to put it on a ship.  It was only seven months later
that it arrived, yet all the time they were telling me that it was on
its way.

5. Make sure that someone knowledgeable is there when they pack and
unpack the packages.  My piano was shipped on its side with the lid
attached.  I received it with a crack on the side from the extra stress
on the case.  When I received the piano, it was missing parts.  The
person that I bought it from told me that he shipped a few bags with
the piano with those parts, but only 1 bag made it and I found it with
the trash outside the house after they left.  The third Orchestrelle
that was shipped here (to a friend) was supposed to arrive with some
parts and a set of 25 pipe organ rolls.  He received the Orchestrelle,
but it was missing the spool-box cover, the tracking key, the spare
parts, and the rolls.  They probably were left at the shipping company
on one side or another.

6. Insure for full restored value.  Insurance is relatively inexpensive
and not reported to customs.  A friend shipped an Orchestrelle from the
UK.  It was finally put on a ship bound for Israel and they had an
accident -- a rare occasion, but the container that the Orchestrelle
was in was a total loss, and my friend didn't have insurance.  Make
sure that whoever is there makes an itemized list of everything that
you ship and takes pictures of it.  Have the shipper sign the itemized
list; if you have such a list, you have a better chance of recovery if
something is lost.

7. IF you have a little courage, clear it through customs yourself.
I have found that customs agents are very helpful if they think that
you're being honest.  You can save $150 in costs by taking care of
this yourself.

If you need to ship overseas and don't know where to begin, try
contacting an international company and ask to speak with their
relocation department.  They deal with this regularly and may be
willing to help by sharing their contractors.

It is possible to ship musical instruments, but it is expensive.
I would probably prefer to buy locally, but obviously there simply
aren't any here in Israel.

Eli Shahar