Insurance Advice for the Increasing Popular Trend of Art Collecting

PROPERTY CASUALTY
By Heather Struck, Reuters

NEW YORK - Art collecting and visiting is becoming increasingly popular, as evidenced by more and better-attended shows and robust auctions. In the first quarter of 2012, prices of postwar and contemporary art sold at auction were up 29.6 percent from the same period the year before, for example. At the same time, art buying is becoming more democratic. Buyers no longer need a dealer to purchase a work, according to Dena Crosson, an private appraiser with Crosson Fine Art in Bethesda, Maryland. But their work and expense does not end when the check is written. Collectors have to figure out how to protect their investments and avoid common pitfalls. ACCIDENTS HAPPEN! [link].

Most art insurance policies will cover physical damage from accidents like fire, flood, paintings falling off their hooks and even misguided and totally-against-the-rules football tosses. These risks are common enough, and insurance should be a mandatory step in buying art, says Kelly [independent art advisor Megan Fox Kelly in New York]. "I can't encourage people enough to insure their art investments," she says. Art coverage can be added to a homeowners policy, for as little as $1 or $2 a year per $1,000 of art. But the caps in those policy may be too low and a separate art policy might be better, says John Buxton, a Dallas, Texas, appraiser. Having an art work appraised is part of every art buyer's experience when they want to sell, but, because values of contemporary art can go up and down from one auction to the next, owners could save a significant amount in insurance premiums by keeping appraisals up to date.