The art of insuring fine art

Mastering the art of collection protection

Art thieves are clever people. They know what to steal and, more often than not, how and where to sell their stolen goods.

As part of our high value insurance service, we can arrange cover for collections of paintings, sculpture and other works of art with underwriters who know this market well.

One of them – Hiscox – offers excellent advice on how to prevent the theft of art objects and how to preserve their intrinsic value.

They suggest, for example, that the most secure way of hanging larger scale paintings is to suspend them on two chains secured to the wall with sound fixings and attached to the picture frame with hooked plates. In this way, if one of the chains breaks, the other will take the strain and the painting will not be damaged by falling to the floor.

They also advise that direct light and heat can damage paintings and their frames. They suggest hanging them in rooms where there's a stable temperature, and where they won't be exposed to direct sunlight.

This is as true for oil paintings as it it is for watercolours, which can all too easily have their colours bleached by the effects of ultraviolet light.

Hiscox also have some sound advice on the care and maintenance of antique furniture. In particular, they warn of the ill effects of using harsh metal and synthetic furniture polishes, both of which can damage wood and other surfaces such as marble.

Finally, as they point out, much of the damage suffered by works of art occurs when they're in transit. This may happen when you move house, or even whilst the work is in the hands of thieves before it is, with luck, retrieved.

Precautions such as those advised by Hiscox may not, in the end, prevent a theft. On the other hand, our high value insurance services can mitigate the loss by covering the monetary if not the artistic value of your paintings and other works of art.