Hello, newbie here, please be gentle...

I was recently considering the way that certain languages, such as the Chinese languages, have numeral classifiers for objects; for example, you wouldn't say that you have "3 apples," you would say that you have "3 {numeral classifier word} of apples." These numeral classifier words, as I understand it, vary depending on the type of object, its shape & size, etc.
I have listened numerous times to Dr. John McWhorter's lectures for the Teaching Company, which is where I first heard about these numeral classifiers. In his lecture "The Story of Human Language" he mentions that English has a little bit of this in that we don't say "3 cattle," we say "3 head of cattle." In a later lecture, "Myths, Lies, & Half-Truths About English Usage," he discusses the difference between so-called "mass nouns" & "count nouns," to whit:
"How
much grain?" (mass noun) vs. "How
many beans? (count noun).
Now, consider the following examples:
Person 1: "There's a sale at the department store today, & I'm going to buy a lot of jewelry."
Person 2: "How
much jewelry are you going to buy?" OR
Person 2: "How
many pieces of jewelry are you going to buy?"
Person 1: "We need to buy enough furniture to fill this new apartment complex."
Person 2: "How
much furniture is that going to be?" OR
Person 2: "How
many pieces of furniture is that going to be?"
In the examples I've just given, does the word "pieces" function as a numeral classifier?
Thank you very much for your time.