New conceptual art insurance solution launched

For picture credit see end of article.

A new insurance solution for private clients with conceptual art collections has been launched by strategic risk and insurance advisor Crystal & Company in partnership with AIG Private Client Group, a division of the member companies of American International Group, Inc. (AIG).

Conceptual art, like that created by Dan Flavin and Sol LeWitt, is focused more on the idea being expressed, while the form and material are secondary. A certificate is provided by the artist to authenticate an item and without this, the piece is considered worthless. Therefore, if the certificate was lost or damaged, the item may have lost most of its value. Historically, references to lost or damaged certificates of ownership have not been spelled out in fine art insurance policies, which can lead to uncertainty in the event of a claim. The endorsement created by AIG insurers in collaboration with Crystal & Company specifies where conceptual artwork is covered.

“We constantly ask ourselves what trends in the art world might impact our clients and what we can do to make sure their collections are protected,” said Jonathan Crystal, executive vice president of Crystal & Company. “Since a piece of paper is often the only document essentially giving value to a work of conceptual art, we wanted to find a way to protect our clients’ investments even if something happens to their certificate.”

Ron Fiamma, global head of Private Collections for AIG Private Client Group, added: “Conceptual art collecting has increased in recent years, and as a result we have fielded more questions about policy contract coverage. When Crystal & Company brought this coverage idea to us, we agreed that this was an effective solution to address the concerns of our shared clients.”

Picture credit: David Hilowitz on Creative Commons license.