There has been a
review of the mahogany case that you asked about here on CT. I think the 750 and 500 are pretty similar. Quite a few people here own them. Hogwild was running a promo on them - he isn't anymore, but you can at least see a bunch of people's comments on the case (he sold mostly the 500, but also the 750)
in his original sponsor thread .
I think the case is not "real" wood, but rather darkly stained pressboard (possibly with a veneer?). Also, it is a very effective display case, but not practical for transporting chips. I think that everyone I have heard of (and there have been a lot of them selling!) likes them, for the price. I don't have one, but have seen it a couple of times at various places.
Depends on what your budget is, but there are some REALLY nice cases at pokerchips.com. You also might consider
these ones. Doesn't solve your shipping problems