Sixty percent of all Art-Insurance claims are for works in transit. Art is most vulnerable when being moved and shipped. Prominent cases include Picasso’s “The Painter” worth an estimated $1.5 Million, which was lost at sea, along with 229 lives, when Swissair Flight 111 crashed in Canada in 1998.

 

Rembrandt’s “Portrait of an Elderly Woman”, suffered a large gash after being sent from the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, in 2001

 

Galleries often send artworks to collectors “on approval”. One such New York gallery sent a crate of paintings worth many millions of dollars to an extremely wealthy collector on an approval basis. The collector decided against buying them but didn’t do a good job of packing them back up to ship back to the gallery, when they arrived, they were destroyed as they didn’t hire a professional shipper to have them sent back. The gallery had to sue an important collector, which would obviously sever the relationship forever.

Another main concern when insuring artwork is working with insurance agents who are knowledgeable vendors able to provide advice for your specific situation. Transit coverage is a must for Art Dealers and Collectors alike. Art moves regularly during acquisition, on loan to Museums, Art shows, and Fairs. The good news is ArtInsuranceNow.com / Bernard Fleischer & Sons Inc.  policies’ have transit coverage included.

Collectors and their advisers would be wise to work with knowledgeable insurance brokers like ArtInsuranceNow.com / Bernard Fleischer & Sons Inc. that can guide you in obtaining the right fine art insurance for your unique situation. For more info visit www.artinsurancenow.com and live chat with us or call us at 800.921.1008