shipping from france- normandy  

It depends
It depends on how much it weighs. Normal post parcels usually have a limit of 50 kg. You could always try the dedicated shippers out there like UPS, Schenker, and so on. However, the cost of shipping something so large such a distance will be quite high.

high yes
i realize it will be high.. it is a HUGE piece..
I need to know how to get it packaged and shipped,, anyone in the shipping biz?

you will need
to wrap it then give the measurements of the packing , length, width , height and weight to the carriers. Use UPS, they are brilliant.

ups?
ups overseas?
the sofa is incredible large and bulky.
my experience with UPS has been disasterous. they charge bogus and outrageous brokerage fees and break or damage my goods on most occaisions only to tell me that you cannot insure "not new" items.
thanks for the tip but i will pass...
anyone in france? know of a shipper or freight company?

do not use a courrier...
unless it is small and has to get there fast. Contact a shipping company that does "consolidation" (ask for it specifically) of goods. What it means is that they fill containers with shipments that are going to the same port but not to the same final destination. You can either start where the shipment is or where it has to arrive both work well. The transportation of a full trans-atlantic container 40' is around U.S.$2.200 depending weither the company ships inside or outside the "conference". Your part will be a proportional part of that cost + consolidation costs.

I've used Schenker. They're...
I've used Schenker. They're a dedicated shipment company, and I've good experiences with them. They operate in France as well.
http://www.schenker.com/english/company/index.html

sorry
i didnt mean to freak you out!! i have only had good results from UPS from worldwide buying. Just shows i suppose that its always a bit of gamble using shippers.

DHL
DHL will usually beat UPS's prices for this sort of thing. See link to French site below.
cheers, and best of luck.
http://www.dhl.fr/publish/fr/fr.low.html