Zilkens' News Blog

Zilkens' News Blog 15 2024

A container ship hits a bridge pier at the harbour exit of Baltimore and a connection collapses, burying 6 people underneath and the insurance industry is thinking of USD 2 - 3 billion in insured losses. 10 days later, the earth shakes in Taiwan, a country with a very high insurance density (in other words: a lot of insurance is purchased) and there is talk of USD 7 billion in insured losses. In both cases, the non-life classes are affected and will show how efficient the insurance system is. Reinsurers will take on a large share - but this is likely to at least cause disharmony in the industrial insurance sector, which has just begun to relax. If a few more weather phenomena and natural catastrophes continue to weigh on balance sheets, the price easing will come to nothing. Incidentally, art hardly seems to be affected in Taiwan, but art is one of the marine insurance lines worldwide - and they are affected by both loss events.

There are already exciting ownership structures in museums. The Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City owns only two-thirds of a Monet, with the remaining third belonging to the heirs of the recently deceased donor. Last year, a Monet fetched USD 25 million at auction - reason for the third owners to push for the sale of the work. The museum is making the best of it: In May, it will be auctioned at Christies in New York and the 2/3 of the proceeds are to strengthen the museum's acquisition budget. The museum management is thinking positively and hopes for a good result, despite some prophecies of doom regarding the current market situation.

A good mood is also expected from the exhibitors at Art Düsseldorf, who are particularly keen to please collectors and museums in the Rhineland before the Venice Biennale. But many interested parties are also expected from BENELUX.

Art insurers will gather in Cologne in advance to inspect Hasenkamp's new art storage facilities. They are currently regarded as the most modern and environmentally friendly art warehouses in Germany and will offer the insurance industry a very well-positioned risk. According to leading representatives of the German Museums Association, sprinkling art storage facilities is undesirable because water and moisture are generally pure poison for art.

The genie is out of the bottle - yet the European Commission is trying to give artificial intelligence a framework in the form of general rules for companies based here. Again, this sounds like a high moral standard, knowing full well that other countries, such as the USA, China, Russia, India or Brazil, don't give a deuce if it serves their own interests. And rules always involve a bit of bureaucracy - and the more technical they become, the more so. They have to go somewhere, the public sector employees whose jobs are taken over by AI.

Stefan Kobel has once again compiled an incredible amount of information - including reports on the closure of the Marlborough Gallery. We wish you exciting reading

Stephan Zilkens and the team at Zilkens Fine Art Insurance Broker GmbH in Cologne and Solothurn