Is It Worth It to Purchase Insurance When I Ship My Works of Art?

Insurance

You are fond of collecting and see the prospect for growth of your artworks? Or you are interested in antiques and think that art is a good way to invest money? Or maybe you do not buy and, on the contrary, sell works of art as a gallery owner or an art dealer? This means that your home, office, or workshop is full of cultural values that are often much more valuable than money and jewels. Works of art, antiques, and other collectibles – all of them are property, the high cost of which is primarily determined by its cultural, historical, or memorial significance. In this way, the responsibility for its loss or damage is also huge. Therefore, you probably think about how to secure your own precious artworks and to protect yourself from the risk of losing the funds invested in the collection or the risk of damage of other people’s belongings that you have in the temporary possession, especially when it comes to local or international transportation? As experienced fine art shippers, art handlers, and art dealers, we strongly recommend our clients to use art shipping insurance during transportation and storage of their fine art pieces.

For today, Fine Art Shippers can offer a great variety of insurance options to avoid financial losses related to the loss or damage of the works of art and other collectibles. The most popular among them are painting shipping insurance, museum insurance, and gallery insurance. However, working together with our partnering companies, we can provide professional insurance and appraisal services according to your own conditions and preferences. Let’s look at the major types of artwork and cultural values that are usually covered by fine art insurance! They include:

  • paintings, graphics (including author works, etchings, and engravings), parsuna portraits, etc.;
  • icons and religious items that are not in use because of their artistic, historical, and cultural value;
  • author photographs, lithographs, woodcuts, etc.;
  • different works of art created in mixed and special techniques;
  • works of decorative art made from any materials (including small, fragile objects and unique jewelry);
  • large sculptures and art installations;
  • other collectibles that are not works of art, but still have scientific, historical, ethnographic, archeological, memorial, artistic, or any other cultural value.

Depending on the chosen conditions, the art shipping insurance may guarantee protection from loss and damage occurred for any reason (full insurance coverage), as well as from such risks as:

  • fire, gas explosion, etc.;
  • water damage;
  • wrongful acts committed by third parties, including theft, robbery, arson, and other forms of intentional damage;
  • natural disasters;
  • loss of one of the pair objects;
  • decrease in value due to damage caused by one of the reasons covered by insurance;
  • acts of vandalism;
  • terrorist attacks.

Moreover, insurance coverage can be provided for the whole process of art shipping, as well as for the certain period, like packing/unpacking, loading/unloading, temporary storage, and exhibiting. In this way, there are many options of fine art insurance, so you can choose the most appropriate one for the safe transportation of your precious possessions.