Two South African firsts for specialist art insurer

South African specialist art insurer has announced the creation of two ‘firsts’ in the South African Financial Services/Insurance arenas to assist investors in art.

The two innovations from Artinsure are:

1) An art theft register has been created to thwart thieves and save investors from buying stolen art

2) Art collectors will automatically have the value of their art increased by 150% upon the death or incapacity of an artist

ART LOSS REGISTER

In response to the increase in frequency of art theft in South Africa, Artinsure has created an Art Loss Register which will be accessible to all. This register will help to maximise publicity of stolen artworks and lower the probability of resale and movement. Anyone will be able to register missing or stolen artworks by going to [email protected].

According to Gordon Massie, MD of Artinsure “The register can also be very useful to cross check when encountering works of art that are on offer for sale. The register is not intended to be all encompassing, but the higher the utilization of the register, the greater the probability of identifying missing works – both for private collectors as well as the professional art world.”

DEATH OR INCAPACITY OF AN ARTIST

The agreed value of a collector’s artwork will automatically be increased by 150% immediately upon the death or incapacity of the artist – subject to confirmation by the owner within 21 working days.

Gordon Massie explains “The investment value of art has increased steadily and South African artists are fetching record prices at auction. We believe this automatic increase is fair and needed to immediately protect collectors who may not immediately be aware of the passing of an artist or incapacitation".