The 400 pound Buddha

October 28 2007

A few weeks ago, I posted a plea for help looking for someone with contacts or knowledge dealing with international cargo.  A month later, my first-ever experience has finally concluded.  The Buddha has arrived.

The Buddha arrives

Honestly, when my wife and I purchased this during our honeymoon, I really had no idea what I was getting into.  I knew that cargo shipments weren't exactly like dealing with FedEx, but with a big ol' lavarock statue, what else does one do?  We paid the cargo service company to pick up the Buddha from the stonecarver, do all the things they needed to do to ship it, and get it on its way to Chicago.  What I didn't know was how many middlemen would want their cut of the action, and how long that would all take.  In the end, a carving that cost less than US$200 at the outset has cost 3x more to arrive at my door.

Thus the double meaning of this post's title -- £400 is the end-cost for this thing...and it's still not inside the house where we wanted it.  Why not?  Well, the cargo manifest said that this sculpture weighs 150 pounds.  As my brother-in-law, my neighbor, and I discovered yesterday -- yeah, right.  It definitely ways a heck of a lot more, and I'm not entirely confident that the flooring will support it if we bring it inside.  That's if we could figure out how to bring it inside.

Maybe I should have gone with a somewhat smaller souvenir of my honeymoon instead.
(PS: At an Asian art store in Milwaukee today, I saw similar kinds of Asian sculpture costing US$1000 or more -- so maybe this isn't so unusual.  Moreover, at least we chose our own design, rather than what the importer for that kind of store would have chosen.  I think it all works out, but...)

Update: Since some of you have asked where the Buddha came from and similar details...this link will show you the stockyard where we bought it.  The very last picture (lower right) is where we found Buddha.  If I had only known that they would pack up the shipping containers for free if I bought three container-loads!

Ed Brill Highland Park, IL USA Category:  Travel  Add/View Comments [24]

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  1. 1  Karen Demerly  | 10/28/2007 9:36:26 PM

    Not sure the pumpkin really adds to the sculpture, but otherwise, very cool.

  1. 2  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 10/28/2007 9:43:27 PM

    I wanted a little bit of color in the photo :-D

  1. 3  Christian http://www.cubetoon.com | 10/28/2007 9:51:23 PM

    And you need to consider and carry this bit of stone every time you are moving house ... good luck mate!

  1. 4  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 10/28/2007 9:57:59 PM

    This looks like a really nice spot to retire...

    Yes, moving in the future is going to be a challenge.

  1. 5  Charles Robinson http://cubert-codepoet.blogspot.com | 10/29/2007 12:18:56 AM

    IIRC you live in an older home so I wouldn't be too concerned about putting it in the house, but I would put it against a load bearing wall or in a corner.

    If you want a structural engineer's perspective, read this: { Link } . He's talking about aquariums, but the concept is the same. A 55 gallon aquarium is about 458 pounds just for the water.

  1. 6  Randy Shimizu  | 10/29/2007 1:50:07 AM

    Perhaps you could put in a cement depending on the type of floor you have. This statue reminds of a monolith from 2001 that found it's way to Ed's place.

  1. 7  Thomas Schulte http://www.welovenotesbut.com/blog | 10/29/2007 4:08:48 AM

    So are these american pounds? Then the weight is around 181 kilos which is not that much.

  1. 8  Jim Casale  | 10/29/2007 4:23:41 AM

    Hey Ed, Nice Buddha :-)

  1. 9  Ben Rose http://www.jaffacake.net | 10/29/2007 5:20:52 AM

    You really need some help with your blog entry title. I'd have told you to go buy a Hollies Greatest Hits album and march it up the stairs to a headline of...

    "He ain't heavy...he's my Budda"

  1. 10  Jim Casale  | 10/29/2007 5:45:24 AM

    I just realized...isn't the Buddha in the "Lotus" position?

  1. 11  Cory http://www.themattsons.net | 10/29/2007 6:11:18 AM

    Ed, Are you sure you're not supposed to chain that to your ankle?

  1. 12  Dvir Reznik http://dvirreznik.blogspot.com | 10/29/2007 7:59:51 AM

    Hey Ed, Mazal Tov on the save arrival of the Buddha!

    It looks very cool, and the pumpkin also gives a scale.. We don't have pumkpins in Israel (we celebrate Halloween differently.. ;-), but still - it's looks very big.

    Good luck finding a place for it...

    Dvir.

  1. 13  Steven  | 10/29/2007 9:03:09 AM

    Check out the weight of your fridge or your clothes washer (with water in it). My front load washer weighs over 400 lbs with a full load of clothes with water. At bigger fridge full of food could be close to that too.

  1. 14  Charles Robinson http://cubert-codepoet.blogspot.com | 10/29/2007 9:55:27 AM

    @13 - Large appliances (and bathtubs) go in predefined areas, so the floor is often reinforced or engineered in a way to provide more support.

  1. 15  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 10/29/2007 9:57:17 AM

    It's a good point, though. Charles, actually while I live in a historic district, my particular dwelling was built in 2000. So, no idea what kind of flooring reinforcement might be in place where. Have to look into it some more.

  1. 16  Andrew Pollack http://www.secondsignal.com | 10/29/2007 12:28:24 PM

    400 pounds distributed over a 24" by 24" base comes out to less than a pound per square inch and should be fine. I realize I'm generalizing by looking and that the base is round so different formula would be more exact.

    Of course, wheeling it in on a hand truck means a higher pounds per square in distribution on the wheels (use a soft tired cart).

    Strictly speaking, it weighs less than two big men standing back to back (or me carrying you, Ed, if I'm in fire gear).

    Consider the weight of a waterbed (water is roughly 8 pounds per gallon). Or just consider the weight if your bed with you and your spouse in it, applied to six small points on the floor where the bed frame touches.

    Any half decent moving company can be bribed to come over and help you move it into place safely.

  1. 17  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 10/29/2007 12:35:32 PM

    "Any half decent moving company can be bribed to come over and help you move it into place safely."

    Now we're up to $900.... :o)

  1. 18  Volker Weber http://vowe.net | 10/29/2007 1:30:00 PM

    Plus, the Buddha is not rocking on six small points. ;-)

  1. 19  Andrew Pollack http://www.secondsignal.com | 10/29/2007 4:06:20 PM

    By the way, you got off cheap. You should try shipping 3000 shirts to Lotusphere.

  1. 20  Randy Shimizu  | 10/30/2007 2:24:46 AM

    Perhaps you should consider using a stair climbing hand truck. They have a lift capacity of 700 pounds ({ Link } )

  1. 21  Charles Robinson http://cubert-codepoet.blogspot.com | 10/30/2007 8:41:23 AM

    Take a picture when you get it in place. And I wanna see you crawling under your house... but I'm guessing houses in Illinois probably have these things called "basements".

  1. 22  Keith Brooks http://lotustech.blogspot.com | 10/30/2007 10:02:29 AM

    Nice to know it came finally, unfortunately as we discussed a few handouts along the way.

    Well now you know why the store sells it for a $1,000, they bought 3 containers full :-)

    Not sure how Buddha would feel aboout Halloween.

  1. 23  Mike McGarel  | 10/30/2007 3:18:26 PM

    That statue is Buddha-licious. ;)

  1. 24  Andrew Pollack http://www.secondsignal.com | 10/31/2007 12:03:46 PM

    Buddha would be at peace with Halloween, as Buddha is at peace with all things. He would accept the holiday an as it is, not try to change it or to change the people reveling in it. It would simply BE.