Here's a note from an antique dealer friend of ours that says it all very clearly.

"Great packing and safe arrival of your merchandise does not happen automatically... and it pays to do business with a dealer of integrity in the first place. If their clients don't comment on their packing, you should ask LOTS of questions."

You think you have problems—I just received a Vienna that was single-boxed (even though I requested double boxing—packed by an amateur) and he left the movement installed in the case.

The carton he used was probably shipped back and forth across the country six times from the looks and softness of it—and the movement had blasted all the mounting screws out of the wood back of the clock.

By some miracle, the glass was not broken, but I had an evening's work just to get it back into together... and I have better things to do."