From New York to Australia: A Globe Travels the Globe

Whether you're across town or halfway around the world in Australia, our gallery in New York City can help you select a globe from our website and arrange safe shipping for your major investment. Even if it's that huge 30-inch floor globe you've always wanted that will require special crating. Here's the story of one globe's travels in 2018 from New York City to our client in Canberra, Australia — over 10,000 miles away!

Detail of Australia

Australia as shown on the Rand McNally globe the client bought. That was its ultimate destination as well.

Floor globe installed

The globe in its new home in Canberra, Australia.

A customer in Canberra, Australia, wanted to buy a very large 30-inch floor globe. He found our website through an Internet search and we corresponded by email about various alternatives, sending him detail pictures and comprehensive condition reports. He ultimately selected our Rand McNally 30-inch floor globe on a handsome and substantial wood stand. It had a special provenance, having once stood inside Dumbarton Oaks, an historic estate in Washington, D.C., and we determined it would also fit well stylistically with the décor in his Australia home.

The next issue was, how were we going to safely transport something that large and valuable from our New York City gallery? Fortunately, we have 25 years of experience shipping globes and other delicate antiques, not just across the United States, but around the world. We built a custom sturdy wooden shipping crate from lumber we purchased near our gallery. Packed safely inside, the globe traveled by sea. We were able to track its progress online as the ship sailed across the Atlantic, through the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal, past Southeast Asia, and on to Sydney, Australia. There it came off the ship and made the final leg of its journey overland to Canberra, Australia.

When the globe arrived we got an enthusiastic email from the globe's new owner (below). He also shared pictures of the globe in its new home (above), and the delivery and unpacking of the crate (below).

30-inch floor globe arrives in its crate.

Arrival of the globe in its crate to the house.

"Exciting news! The globe was safely delivered today!

"Thank you for all your attention to the detail of safe packaging and the instructions for unpacking. I had several extra pairs of hands available to meet the removal courier and all has gone very well with the install as you will see from the attached photos.

"Thanks again for facilitating fulfilment of a decades long ambition. I’m hoping we might get to New York in 2020, when it would be great to meet you, but in the meantime I will enjoy reading of the new arrivals at your gallery as described in your newsletter."

Empty crate after unpacking the globe

The unpacked crate.