This document outlines key aspects of art collection management, including collecting objectives, sources, and systems; valuation; insurance; shipping and installation; conservation; sharing collections through loans and foundations; and parting with collections through de-accessioning, estate planning, and donations. It discusses inventorying collections, determining value, maintaining condition reports, correctly packing and shipping artworks, mitigating risks, insuring for full value, title issues, customs procedures, installation best practices, preventing damage and inherent vice, climate control systems, exhibition loans, de-accessioning plans, lifetime gifts, bequests, and "bargain sales" to reduce tax burdens.

1. 12 November 2013
Art Collection Management
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2. I. COLLECTION BUILDING
II.ESTABLISHING THE SCOPE AND VALUE OF A COLLECTION
A. INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
B. VALUATION
III.COLLECTION MAINTANENCE AND HOLDING COSTS
A. INSURANCE
B. SHIPPING, HANDLING, INSTALLATION
C. CONSERVATION
IV. THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE WORTH OF COLLECTIONS
A. SHARING COLLECTIONS (DISPLAY, LOANS, PUBLISHING)
B. ART INVESTING AND FINANCING
v. PARTING FROM COLLECTIONS
A. DE- ACCESSIONING, GIFTING, ESTATE PLANNING
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3. Collecting Objectives
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Personal Vision
Conceptual Theme
Vertical Collecting (Buying in Depth)
Horizontal Collecting
Crossover Collecting
“The Very Best”
Medium

4. Collecting Sources
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At Auction
Dealers
Artist’s Studio
Online
Via Agent
Due Diligence

5. Collection Management
Systems
(CMS)
• Software
Artsystems/Gallery Pro
ArtBase
The Museum System
Filemaker Pro (My Art Collection)
vs.
• “The Cloud”
iCollect/CollectorSystems (Sotheby’s Official Client
CMS)

6. Art Detail
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7. My Art Collection
Art List

8. Valuation
Valuation v. Appraising
What Kind of Value?
Valuation Factors
Authenticity
Quality
Rarity
Condition
Provenance
Publications and Exhibition

9. Insurance
• Art Insurance
• Explosion of art market = Explosion of
insurance business
• Premium revenues have increased by
30% in last 5 years
• U.S. is fastest-growing market; Brazil
• Increased values also mean increased
liability

10. Why Insure? DESTRUCTION
Jackson Pollock,
Drips on Black
partially destroyed in Corral Canyon Fire
2007

11. Why Insure?
DAMAGE PARTIAL LOSS
Picasso’s $138 million La Reve – post elbow

12. Issues for Insurer
At-Risk Addresses: Florida

13. Issues for Insurer:
HOTSPOTS
Momart Warehouse Fire, London, 2004

14. How much to insure for?
Richard Prince, Man-Crazy Nurse
No.2 sold for $7,433,000
at Christies, May 2008
2003:
Nurse painting purchased for
$100,000
2006:
Same Nurse painting valued at
$250,000
New buyers from Russia, Middle East
and Asia concentrate on artists with
momentum

15. Title Insurance
When is title not clear?
Theft, Liens, Divorce
Provenance Gap
Reassure Buyer
Muddy Ownership
.Note: most reputable dealers guarantee clear title and auction houses
offer warranty
• Suffland Holdings v. Gagosian Gallery (Mark Tansey) 2010
– Consignor forgot work had been partially gifted to Met when signed
representation of warranty to title

16. Shipping
International Freight
• 9/11 Commission Act of 2007
– TSA screens 100% cargo on passenger aircraft
(some shipping companies are Cargo Screening Facilities)

17. Shipping
Mitigate Risk
• Reputable Art Handlers
→ ICEFAT (International Convention of Exhibition Fine Art
Transporters) www.icefat.org
• Before anything is shipped:
→ Condition Report with Images
• Correctly Packed: Crate, Travel Frame, Conservation→ Grade Soft Packing Materials
• Most Direct Route Possible

18. Shipping
Road Freight
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Air-Ride Suspension; Humidity, Temperature Control
Security Tracking
Alarm
Consolidated Shipment? → LOFO (Last On, First Off)
Is Someone with Artwork At All Times?
Can Art Be Unloaded in Building?
By Courier
Delivery
− Must be supervised
− Signature constitutes owner’s approval of arrival condition
− Conservator should be on hand for valuable and vulnerable
pieces

19. Shipping
Customs
Generally: Fine Art is Duty Free
→ But what is “Fine Art”?
• “executed entirely by hand” -- YES
• Antiques over 100 years old – YES
• Disassembled “light art” – NO! (EU)
→ Haunch of Venison Case (2010)
= VAT 20% instead of 5% + Customs
» Viola and Flavin works are “wall lighting” and “fixtures”

20. INSTALLATION

21. INSTALLATION
• Does it fit??
• Avoid Direct Sunlight – Ultraviolet radiation
(cumulative damage cannot be reversed)
− solar shades
− UV filters/Glazing
− Rotate works
• Location
(Radiators, Fireplaces, Under Sprinkler Systems, Near Heaters)
• Humidity fluctuations (optimal: stabilized between 40-60%)
− Beware of spotlights (heat)
• Sculpture and Objects:
consider plinths, display cases, bases and mounts

22. Conservation
Only 5% of the world‘s artworks will survive the next 100 years!

23. Conservation
DAMAGE

24. Conservation
INHERENT VICE

25. Conservation
CLIMATE CONTROL
Hygrothermograph

26. SHARING COLLECTIONS
Don and Mera Rubell

27. SHARING COLLECTIONS
• Exhibition Loans
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Duration?/How many venues?
Security?/Climate control?
Publication?
Insurance?
Costs?
Courier?
Replacement work?
Immunity from Seizure?
UCC-1

28. SHARING COLLECTIONS
Foundations
Rubell Family Collection/Contemporary Art Foundation

29. PARTING WITH COLLECTIONS
DE-ACCESSION
No more room/doesn’t fit
27 Rue de Fleurus, Paris

30. PARTING WITH COLLECTIONS
• Tired of the Artwork/Change of Taste
• Raise money to buy more art
• No more room/doesn’t fit
• Approaching end of life/priorities shifting

31. PARTING WITH COLLECTIONS
DE-ACCESSIONING: SELLING
• Auction - open, public (not discreet), transparent,
but all at once can be a risk
• Private Sales
− Dealer – or not
− Conflict? Selling
• For multiple pieces: De-accession Plan
− Analyze Each Market Sector
− Don’t Flood the Market

32. PARTING WITH COLLECTIONS
ESTATE PLANNING
GOALS
1.Respect collector’s wishes vis-àvis collection
2.Reduce tax burden on estate

33. PARTING WITH COLLECTIONS
ESTATE PLANNING: LIFETIME GIFT
Jane and Aerin
Lauder

34. PARTING WITH COLLECTIONS
ESTATE PLANNING: GIFT/BEQUEST
DONATE WORKS
TO
CHARITIBLE
INSTITUTIONS
Dorothy and Herbert Vogel
National Gallery of Art
Washington, DC
(Collectors Deduct FMV)

35. PARTING WITH COLLECTIONS
“BARGAIN SALE”
Sammlung Berggruen
Heinz Berggruen
Sold works to Berlin’s
State Museums
for $129 million,
1/10 market value

36. QUESTIONS?
Art Collection Management
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