Non-backpacking question...shipping

Having been everywhere, man, I can say this: No one will treat your stuff as nicely as you will. I wouldn't trust an antique piece to be shipped with anyone, given that it's a one-off. It's not a big enough load to interest a mover (and it's too easily separated). Though you might call them anyway and see what they'd quote you. f you REALLY want a mover, I'd go with a 'brand name', even though they cost more. (That would be because I used a smaller company, and the movers stole everything that would fetch a price at a pawn shop. Laws strongly favor the carrier in interstate moves).

I've used DHL for shipping a guitar internationally, and they did alright with it. I I'm not sure who does road freight in the US. I ship my equipment (road freight) with TNT. they do a good job, and have an American contingent. I've also used Qantas, but that's a bit overkill for this one.

Heavy awkward items tend to go by freight truck (I ship and receive laboratory equipment, some of which can weigh a thousand pounds or more and be valued at up to a hundred thousand dollars) and that involves crating or boxing for the cabinet in any case . Expensive and for someone only the distance from SF to Seattle I'd say just drive it. Good excuse to visit as well. Stick it in your back seat, perhaps with a bit of disassembly and pad it right. Moving padding (rentable at a UHaul: and if you've a small car they've got small trailers that would work for you too) or lots of bubble wrap and lots of those synthetic sleeping bags we all use for car camping or old bed quilts.
Were I doing it I'd probably see if I could load it onto my back seat upside down so there'd be no pressure on the old legs when the car bounced: I'd separate the machine from the cabinet of course.
800 miles, 13 hours each way. Load up the iTunes with a lot of tracks, a cooler of cold soda and sandwiches and: Road Trip! I-5 is lovely this time of year... If your car isn't up to it I bet an enterprise rental would be cheaper than freighting them..

Plan "B"? Have her take some photos and send them to you and you go to a UPSStore with dimensions and a weight estimate. : www.theupsstore.com/pack-ship/freight-shipping

Shiping a single bulky item by itself will be very expensive. One possible solution is to contact movers in Seattle, tell them what you need and let them know you're in no hurry. They may be able to keep it in their warehouse until they have a partial load heading for SanFran. We did this with a piano from Milwaukee and it was much more reasonable.

Aside: for those saying "it's not that far"; it is over 800 miles from Seattle to San Francisco. There seems to be a common misconception that those two cities are much closer together than they actually are. When we lived in Seattle, we'd sometimes hear from people who were going to be visiting SF for a few days: "maybe we could meet somewhere." At that time, with lower speed limits, it was probably a 16 hour drive. (It's probably more like 13 now.) I always found this kindof fascinating.

I think this stems from the closeness of stuff on the east coast. I'm basing that on my reactions on our recent visit to the idea that we could drive most of the way across Mass. in just a couple of hours. Things really are a long way apart out here!

I shipped an 18 ft kayak from Portland Oregon to Tampa Florida for $300 + $100 for the store to pack it. I used a brokerage place. Commercial location pick up and drop off required.

Another option is to find someone driving a U-Haul down and that will bring it close to you. BlueBear used some service when he shipped his Dad's tool chest to Colorado, from Florida. I happen to know this because he temp stored it at my house for the guy to pick up. Maybe he will respond with the directions to use such a service. Seems like the fee was negotiable

Seems like tagging no longer works for me this afternoon.