Insurance for
art historians

If, in the course of your occupational activities, you harm third parties or such parties come to grief because of you or your occupational activities, be the damage physical, material or financial, you can be made liable in accordance with § 823 of the German Civil Code (BGB). To protect you from such financial demands, we offer you the option of insurance cover in the form of professional liability insurance and pecuniary damage liability insurance. The insurer settles justified claims and contests unjustified claims on your behalf. Below, we show a few practical examples for the sake of clarity and understanding.

Examples of damage covered by classic professional liability insurance for art historians:

• You accidentally spill paint on the floor and a third party slips on it and injures him/herself.
• On a guided tour, someone falls over the bag that you put down and injures him/herself. After that he or she is unable to work for three days.
• You drop the object to be assessed and it shatters.
• A painting is torn while being framed.
• During the assessment process you cause a “dog-ear” in a valuable book.

Examples of damage covered by errors and omissions insurance for art historians:

• You are organising an exhibition and write an incorrect exhibition date in the invitation, as a result of which everyone comes too early. Travel expenses are incurred.
• You give an incorrect recommendation for conservation.
• You make a mistake while assessing the conservation of a historical monument. Your client suffers financial loss as a result.
• When preparing a catalogue you overlook some works.
• An expert opinion on a painting’s value is too high and the client pays too much for the work in question. He demands compensation from you.
• While giving an expert opinion, you overlook important sources and come to incorrect conclusions – the client is suing you for the resultant pecuniary consequences.

Please talk to us about it. We’ll be glad to advise you.

Philosophy

Zilkens Fine Art Insurance Broker GmbH is an owner-run (CV Dr. Stephan Zilkens) company. This lends a special significance to our corporate philosophy, as the owner vouches with his name for the company’s services and performance.

Two characteristics define our brand essence. One is our love of art and the other is our customers’ absolute satisfaction. Only the consonance of these two factors makes us successful.

To fulfil our aspiration of providing reliable orientation in an increasingly complex world, we adhere to a set of ethical and moral principles. The quality of our work plays a special part in this process. We want to and can distinguish ourselves only with excellent performance and customer satisfaction.

We endeavour to advise our customers neutrally and in the optimum manner with a high level of expertise. Reliability is seen as something special these days, but we live and breathe it on a daily basis. We always search for the the best and safest solution because we have geared our customer relationships to the long-term.