The value of art goes far beyond the materials used in its production. A couple of brushstrokes on a canvas can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, with significant cultural and historical value attached to pieces of art regardless of their size, compositional materials, and age. That’s why art often becomes a target of theft and vandalism. To protect precious collections, art owners have to implement end-to-end security measures, from storage to transportation. Here is a glimpse of how secure art transport makes a difference and transforms art logistics.

Vital Role of Security: The Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum Heist

Though the notorious heist in the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum is not directly related to transportation, it highlights the importance of integrating security into every dimension of dealing with art. In 1990, two thieves disguised as police officers entered the Museum and overpowered security guards to steal a total of 13 precious artworks.

The cumulative financial damage of the heist was estimated at $500+ million, and exclusive works by Rembrandt, Degas, and Vermeer vanished from public space. This audacious heist exposed security weaknesses of the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum and triggered the development of rigorous protocols for all art-related procedures, including transportation.

Lessons Learned: Secure Art Transport Protocols

So, what did the art logistics industry learn from the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum’s example? This heist set a new tradition of robust security art transport protocols to exclude any risks of incidents on the road. Here are their main elements.

• Multi-layered security audits. A single-point failure can bring all security protections to nought, which points to the need for comprehensive audits for vulnerability identification across the entire art logistics chain.
• Advanced tracking and documentation. The heist discussed above unveiled a serious problem related to the lack of artwork traceability. The absence of trackers allowed exclusive masterpieces to slip through the cracks, thus highlighting the need to add GPS trackers or RFID tags to vehicles, crates, and boxes.
• Specialized packaging. A recent scandal with the Koons sculpture damage revealed the limits of standard packaging in terms of securing delicate, vulnerable art. In this regard, the concept of secure art transportation evolves to include shock-absorbing inserts, acid-free materials, UV-protective cases, and vibration-damping mounts.

When all these security measures are implemented in art logistics, the artwork enjoys ultimate safety in transit. We at Fine Art Shippers also follow the top industry standards to ensure our art travels safely and doesn’t face security troubles in transit.