Tips for insuring your precious art pieces

In a couple of blog posts published last month, we acquainted our readers with the varied nuances of art insurance. As we've grasped, insuring your art is extremely important to retain its worth.

Following are some vital tips to keep in mind, when you seek art insurance:

- Photograph your paintings and other collectibles. This is one of the most basic albeit important things to do while seeking insurance for your art.
- Take multiple sets of photographs, at least two of them. Be sure that you take snaps from different angles. Thus you will be able to prove the authenticity and precise condition of an artwork if it gets stolen, damaged or lost.
- Put a set of photographs in a bank locker and retain one at home. You may take a third set for your attorney and even the executor of your will.
- In addition to taking photographs of the actual piece/s, also photograph relevant supporting documents like original sales receipts and other paperwork in support of its provenance, appraisals etc that substantiate the value.
- It’s a good idea to create e-files as a solid backup to artwork photographs and other supporting documents. You may scan your sales receipts, convert them into PDF files and put them on your desktop or on a remote server.

There are several insurance agencies specializing in only art and antiques coverage. You may seek art insurance from the same service provider that offers the homeowners insurance to you.
Many firms offer discounts to customers who take more than one policy; for instance, a homeowners and an auto insurance policy. Depending on what you are going to have insured, and at what cost, it will generally cost less premium if you include coverage for your artworks in your existing homeowners insurance policy.

Before you make a final call, do necessary field work. Shop around. Well, even art insurance can be negotiated. Do not accept the first quote as the final one. Seek clarifications, ask questions. Check for loopholes in a proposed policy. Find out if a particular situation or instance is not covered. In essence, try to ensure that you know exactly what you'll be getting as part of your art insurance.