Zilkens' News Blog

Zilkens' News Blog 42 2024

Transport represents a particular risk for works of art. That is why the insurance industry tries to formulate its terms and conditions in such a way that the policyholder must ensure that the things are covered by the chosen method of transport and the chosen conveyance appropriate for the chosen route. The value also plays a role, albeit a subordinate one. The selection of a proven and long-standing art forwarder usually meets the requirements. A former employee of MONOPOL is now the managing director of a start-up financed by Chenu in France, among others, called Moviiu, which offers better cardboard boxes (Panzerkarton just sounds better) lined with a bit of foam as a suitable packaging for worldwide transport, ultimately organised with Päckleschubsern, at a lower cost. This should work up to a value of 100,000 EUR. As is well known, the carrier's liability insurance only covers 8.33 special drawing rights per kilogram, and DHL, UPS, FEDEX and Co. exclude art in their terms and conditions or are only liable up to a maximum of €500.00. The question now is which insurer will step in here? The ones we know so well balk at the word parcel service, at the latest at €25,000. Others look at the conditions afterwards and look for reasons not to have to pay out – inadequate packaging could be one of them. However, these questions are not discussed at MONOPOL.

The team around Tobias Warweg's GGW has struck again and taken over Barta M.A.I. GmbH, which in turn belongs to Barta und Partner, through its Austrian arm Leading Brokers United Austria. At least that's what you can read from the information on North Data. Nikolaus Barta sold his company to AON Austria once before, years ago. He then couldn't stand being in the group for very long and made it independent again. Let's see how long he lasts with GGW. The detour via Leading Brokers United also explains why we have not yet read anything about the deal in Germany. The great Niki, as some in the industry call him, is now going around trying to motivate specialised brokerage firms to join GGW. He has already done this with AON - but I don't know of anyone who has been recruited.

FRIEZE in London has now ended – quite successfully, as one hears and can find in Stefan Kobel's press review. Now parts of the crowd are moving on to Paris, where Art Basel Paris opens on Wednesday at the Grand Palais. Even the beleaguered auction house Sotheby's has opened new representative rooms at 83 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré just in time on Friday.

A number of art insurers, primarily from the Anglo-Saxon sphere of influence, will be arriving in Budapest from Wednesday to attend this year's IFASIC conference. It will be interesting to see what impetus this conference will provide. We will report on it next Monday.

By the way: in just 10 weeks, 2024 will be over.

We wish everyone a great start to the week – school holidays are starting somewhere again...

The team at Zilkens Fine Art Insurance Borker GmbH in Solothurn and Cologne