Republican forces in the Iowa House have voted to compel the University of Iowa to sell the centerpiece of its art collection, a Jackson Pollock work, in order to fund scholarships for art students. This is despite opposition from many quarters and is also contrary to the wishes of the donor. Further details here : http://www.dailyiowan.com/2011/02/17/Metro/21449.html

Actually, we think this makes a lot of sense, and is a policy that could and should be applied much more broadly to balance budgets of communities and universities alike.

First, once you sell off the contents or the best contents of the university and public museums, costs will certainly decline. There will be few if any students and visitors interested in attending – major savings right there.

Second, why not extend the program to include libraries and other cultural institutions? Once emptied of pesky rare books requiring expensive climate controlled storage, library buildings could be converted to high end shopping or other approved GOP use. Museums, too. Many such institutions occupy seriously delicious real estate in major cities around the U.S. Why haven’t other lawmakers thought of this before?

Pretty much all the art anyone would want to see and all the books anyone would want to read or inspect can be accessed online, so these “bricks and mortar” buildings and their contents are passe anyway in the digital age.

To the extent that art and culture is fungible it should be funged and the proceeds spent to reduce deficits. Taxes should also be decreased for high net worth citizens, encouraging them to buy such liquidated art and artifacts and remove them to their secure gated communities. We are sure they will gladly make these treasures available for viewing by any art or other students who might happen by. If that isn’t a win/win what is?

Betsy Dorfman

Some customers, including industry insiders, mistakenly believe that booking a service or shipment with a fine art provider means, by default, that the shipment or goods being handled are automatically insured. Or, if not insured per se, that the provider nonetheless must have liability in case of damage, especially damage caused in the course of their care and custody. Not the case. In fact if it were the case, art handlers could not function; having open ended liability for potentially millions of dollars of stored and in-transit property would be an untenable business proposition day to day. We have enough gray hair as it is.

So the reality is that fine art handlers necessarily have limited liability, typically capped at 60 cents per pound per article, for uninsured items. That is barely salvage value and completely useless in the realm of fine art coverage, where values range from hundreds into the millions of dollars. Beyond that point, unless a value is declared and a premium paid, there is no coverage. Zero. No matter what the circumstances of the loss. Even if we knock it off a shelf and run a forklift over it. We really try not to do that, by the way.

Every customer who calls to book a service or receive an estimate is asked if they wish to take or decline the insurance we provide, and every transaction processed – estimate, bill of lading, invoice – shows the status of the account or shipment as insured for a specified value or insurance declined. If you are working with a carrier or fine art shipper and there is no notice of insurance status on the document, get that fixed. If there is no value declared and shown in writing then chances are 99.9% that you are not insured with that provider.

Despite this clarity, some customers remain confused or subject to wishful thinking, typically after a loss has occurred. To banish this “gray area” insurance underwriters, including ours, have introduced an additional step into the process: customers declining insurance must sign and return an OPT OUT form, a sample of which is below.

The form is kept on file and applies to all transactions for that customer or account, unless or until rescinded in writing. In some cases a museum, collector or gallery will have their own all risk policy in place, and sending us proof of such coverage will serve the same purpose as the OPT OUT form.

Asking our customers to return this form has been instructive. It has turned up some who thought they were insured, despite receiving in some cases years of notices to the contrary, and others who realized their own independent coverage had lapsed and/or that they need to update their appraised values and coverage. Many clients had questions, which served to show that the waters were murky indeed. A few interpreted this to be an entirely new policy limiting our liability and were concerned that we were now cutting them off from some delectable free coverage they had enjoyed in the past– not the case. As I hastened to explain. And a few others thought the document somehow related to their own independent insurance policies, which it does not.

And so, unaccustomed as I am to praising insurance companies, my chapeau is off to the folks at Lloyd’s of London and our agent at Willis Fine Art & Specie for adding this document into the mix. Nobody likes more paperwork, but where irreplaceable art and artifacts are concerned the fewer twilight zones the better.

Betsy Dorfman

Sample notice:

NOTICE OF OPT OUT of insurance offered

This will confirm that I/We have been offered purchase of “Customers’ All Risk Fine Art Insurance” by Fine Art Shipping/Bilton Arts Inc. and that I/We OPT OUT and decline to accept this coverage.

By opting out and signing below I understand that Fine Art Shipping/Bilton Arts Inc. has limited liability for any loss or damage, as specified in their documents and waybills, as do their agents and affiliated providers.

( ) I/We decline to accept coverage as noted above and this relates to ALL SERVICES performed by Fine Art Shipping/Bilton Arts Inc. I/We further understand that this OPT OUT declination can only be rescinded by myself or an authorized representative and requires a statement of acceptance in writing from Fine Art Shipping/Bilton Arts Inc. to take effect.<

COMPANY or INDIVIDUAL NAME: _____________________

ADDRESS__________________________________________________________

SIGNATURE of individual or COMPANY authorized representative __________________________

DATE ______//_______//______

NOTE: Failure to return this document to Fine Art Shipping/Bilton Arts prior to performing the requested service will constitute acceptance of “Customers’ All Risk Insurance” together with any related fees and expenses for same.<

One of the distinct joys of our business is the opportunity to see amazing cultural and historical artifacts and objects close up. With no plexi case or velvet rope intervening. Sometimes, we get to hold history in our hands, as we did with the air rifle that was authenticated to the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Or the World War II D-Day planning map, personal property of General Omar Bradley, complete with his hand drawn renderings and notations. And the inventory of signed first editions by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.

Most recently FINE ART SHIPPING was privileged to crate an exhibition of Miles Davis memorabilia for the Musee de la Musique/ Cite de la Musique in Paris. The show, entitled “We Want Miles!” opens Oct 16^th,  in case you are fortunate enough to be in the vicinity. Among the items we packed for the exhibition were stage costumes, sheet music, original paintings by Miles, and, most notably, three of his trumpets. Of these the “trumpet rouge” or red trumpet, was the instant show stopper. The photos shown here give just an idea of the beauty and craftsmanship of this instrument, which, beyond its value and history, is itself a work of art.

Although “red trumpet” arrived to us in its case, the lender generously allowed us to hold the instrument and manipulate the keys to feel the “action.” Wearing gloves, needless to say. For those of us who have played garden variety instruments and have some basis of comparison, we soon realized we had none, not to a custom instrument of this caliber. Crafted by Martin to Miles’ personal specifications, including the silky yet precise play of those keys, the “cool” was transporting. We Want Miles!

We’re hoping Miles would have dug the crate that we made for his trumpets; they were shipped in their original cases, each case slipped into a custom drop front foam core box within the crate. Hopefully, doing our little bit; honoring craft with craft. And, of course, we painted the crate RED!

Betsy Dorfman