Thanks to everyone for replying! We should probably wait until next year, then, to ship the furniture because we won't have time to move the furniture to BsAs & then do all the tramites. Now that I understand the rules a little better, there are 15-20 family heirlooms of mostly sentimental value that we'll have to at some point register for export through this potentially costly and onerous process.
For the furniture, can anyone recommend a mover who could handle the customs issues? What about artwork? We will email the Secretaria de Cultura about this to see if there is a minimum value, etc., and will post the reply (if we get one!).
Also, we were going to take a brass samovar and coffee tray back to the U.S. on our return this month. Bad idea?