I’m not sure this is an appropriate question for MITRA, so if it’s not, Brian, feel free to shut me down. For shipping a painting, I usually just use Fedex and keep my fingers crossed. I have a client wanting full coverage – beyone Fedex’s liability – for a shipment. Any suggestions for good, fine art shipping and/or fine art insurance for one painting, while in transit?
There are real problems with shipping your own artwork using USPS, UPS, or Fed-EX. Unless it has a demonstrable value (it was already sold for a specific price), they will often only pay out the value of the materials. This is even if you pay for extra insurance. You also have to show that you have packed it so secure that any damage had to happen due to some real travesty (eg fork lift through the crate).
There are a large number of fine art shippers starting with little 2 man operations up to huge firms. They are usually only in large cities. Atelier are two well-known shippers but there are many others. These do have the benefit of better care and they make take the responsibility for any possible damage and are insured to cover it, but they are really far more expensive. Whether this is worth it is up to you. Sorry, I cannot recommend any particular companies.