Document Type
Shipping Documentation
This is the document that rides on the outside of the crate. Gilded Art Works generates a packing list built from the same artwork records that produced your customs invoice — titles, media, dimensions and declared values — followed by six handling instructions set as boxed, capitalised headings, and a chain-of-custody grid signed at each handover from gallery to carrier to consignee. It prints at document type sizes, not signage sizes: if you need instructions legible across a warehouse, enlarge this page or crate-mark separately. Carrier rate shopping and label purchase are a separate capability and are not switched on.
Best for: Galleries crating sold or loaned works who want the handling terms and the custody trail attached to the crate rather than sitting in an email.
What’s in the document
- Packing list drawn from your artwork records, with declared values and a total
- Ship-from block filled from your gallery profile; ship-to left open for the consignee
- Blanks for carrier, waybill or tracking, and scheduled delivery
- Blanks for number of packages, total gross weight and crate dimensions
- Six standing handling instructions, printed on every copy
- Four-stage chain-of-custody grid: released, collected, received, unpacked
- Damage-reporting instruction naming your gallery and contact address
Why the instructions belong on the crate
The people who determine whether a work arrives intact are not the people who booked the shipment. They are a driver, a warehouse handler and a receiving clerk, none of whom read the email thread, none of whom know what is inside, and all of whom are working to a schedule. Anything you need them to do has to be legible on the outside of the box at the moment they are touching it.
This is also why the handling instructions here print unconditionally rather than as options you select. A gallery in a hurry does not tick "do not stack", and the one shipment where it was skipped is the one where a pallet goes on top. The instruction costs nothing to print on every copy and is worth having on the one crate in fifty that would otherwise have been stacked.
The six standing instructions
Each prints as a boxed instruction: a ruled box, a short capitalised heading, and a line of detail beneath it. The boxing and the capitals are what make them scannable at a glance — the type itself is document-scale, around nine point, so a handler reads them off the page in their hand rather than from across a bay. Where an instruction has to survive being read at distance, mark the crate itself as well.
- This way up
- Do not invert or lay flat unless the crate is marked for flat transit. Orientation is the instruction most often lost when a crate is reloaded at a depot rather than at either end of the journey.
- Fragile — fine art: two-person lift
- Never drag, never rest on a corner or an edge. Corner impacts are the single most common source of frame and stretcher damage, and they happen while the crate is being set down, not while it is moving.
- Do not stack
- Nothing to be placed on top of these crates at any point. Stated absolutely because a qualified version invites a judgement call from someone with no information.
- Keep dry
- Not to be left on a wet surface, in rain, or in an unsealed vehicle. Water reaches a work through the base of a crate far more often than through its lid.
- Climate
- Avoid direct sun and heat sources; do not leave in an unconditioned vehicle overnight. A closed van in summer reaches temperatures no fine-art policy assumes.
- Unpacking: acclimatize for 24 hours
- Leave crates unopened for a day before opening, and retain all packing for return transit. Opening a cold crate in a warm room condenses moisture directly onto the work — the damage happens in the first minutes and is entirely avoidable.
The custody grid, and why it settles arguments
Four stages print as signature rows: released by gallery, collected by carrier, received at destination, unpacked and checked. Each takes a name, a signature and a date and time. Between any two consecutive signatures there is exactly one party with the work, and that is the entire point — a damage claim turns on where the work was when the damage occurred, and an unbroken grid answers that question without anyone having to reconstruct it from memory.
The final row matters most and is the one most often skipped. "Received" and "unpacked and checked" are different events, sometimes days apart, and damage discovered after unpacking against a crate that was signed for as received in good order is a much harder claim. The document also prints a standing instruction: note any damage or discrepancy on this page at the point it is observed, photograph it before the shipment is moved further, report it to your gallery the same day, and do not attempt remedial work.
What it does not do
It does not book a shipment, compare carrier rates or buy a label. That integration requires a connected carrier account, and it is not enabled on this deployment — the rates endpoint returns a not-configured error rather than a price, and no carrier here quotes anything. It is not a customs document: the commercial invoice is separate, and both should travel. It does not generate carrier-format labels or barcodes, and the waybill and tracking fields are blanks you complete once the carrier has issued them. It does not weigh or measure your crates, and it does not track anything after the crate leaves.
Questions, answered
Does this book shipments or buy carrier labels?
No. Live rate shopping and label purchase require a connected carrier account, and that integration is not enabled on this deployment — the rates endpoint returns a not-configured error rather than a price. What you get today is the paper: packing list, handling instructions and chain of custody. Email hello@gildedartworks.com if carrier booking is something you need.
How does this connect to customs documentation?
Both are generated from the same artwork records, so the titles, media, dimensions and declared values on the packing list are the values on your customs invoice. That removes the transcription step between two hand-typed documents, which is a common cause of a hold at the border. Both documents should travel with the shipment.
What do the handling instructions cover?
Six standing instructions: orientation, two-person lifting, no stacking, keeping dry, climate and direct sun, and a 24-hour acclimatization period before the crate is opened. They print unconditionally on every copy, because the person who needs them did not read the email. They are set at document type sizes in ruled, capitalised boxes — legible in the hand, not across a warehouse; mark the crate itself where distance matters.
Why does the custody grid have a separate "unpacked and checked" row?
Because receiving a crate and inspecting its contents are different events, often days apart. Damage found after unpacking, against a crate signed for as received in good order, is a much harder claim. The fourth row is the one that protects the consignee.
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