Is there a distinction in having your art stolen? Evidently so with the top artist for stolen pieces is Picasso. I guess the thefts have slowed down I haven’t heard of any in a long time. Perhaps the security systems are better in place than they used to be, or perhaps Picasso’s work has lost some of its popularity in the art thievery world. Who knows?

I have never thought about art insurance. When you take your pieces to a gallery or museum to show the establishment surely has the insurance to replace said pieces if they are stolen, probably at the market value, or at least the value you had posted in the gallery. Like insuring antiques or valuable jewelry pieces I would imagine art insurance would be very expensive. I wouldn’t know as I have never investigated this. If the pieces were stolen out of your studio or home I wonder if homeowners would cover the work at your replacement value. I suppose if the work was photographed and prices recorded somewhere they may consider this. Depends on the coverage I would imagine.

Art value is strange as the face value of a piece of art could be in the beholder. Some people wouldn’t consider hanging a Jackson Pollock in their home let alone pay thousands of dollars for it and the insurance after they got it. I wonder how objective the art appraiser can be when they are appraising art especially when they don’t particularly care or the work themselves. Interesting thought and kind of scary if you are having the appraising done.

If you are an artist and have a volume of work in your studio you may want to think about some of this if you are older. Think of the inheritance issue and people inheriting your work who have no idea of the value of the pieces. The work could end up in a yard sale. Now that is a scary thought. This actually happened to me. My father remarried after my mother died. When my father passed away the second wife sold all of his belongings in a yard sale, which of course included some of the paintings I had given my parents. A neighbor saw this and was astonished. She bought them and returned them to me which I considered a thoughtful gesture. This sale wasn’t unfortunately done out of ignorance but something else of a more evil nature. But that is beside the point.

Think about what you have in the way of artwork in your possession right now and the value you have put on your work. I know some of you have your parent’s artwork that is priceless to you.  It may be worth investigating to itemize in your trust or will. At the very least your inheritors will know and appreciate the value of your work. What happens after that is not predictable. Hopefully if the inheritors think enough of you they will want a piece of your artwork to remember you by.