Zilkens' News Blog

Zilkens' News Blog 49 2024

November is over and after 20 more nights of sleep, the days will be getting longer again. Christmas is then 48 hours later, which once again comes as a surprise to many. It is less surprising, despite a great result for a Magritte and a moronic one for a banana with adhesive tape, that the results of the November auctions in New York were even worse than those of 2023. One might think that the art market is losing its appeal - but no, only the offer is weaker and significantly more cautious. On a positive note, one could say that after a loss of $1.1 billion in sales from 2022 to 2023, the decline slowed in 2024 – only 800 million less. So things will pick up again soon. In any case, some auction houses in Germany managed to do so in 2024, succeeding in selling lots in the million-dollar range (which seemed out of reach until recently). Lempertz managed to sell a Monet with a hammer price of 3.5 million, Griesebach was successful with Beckmann and 4.4 million, and Ketterer is hoping for the big hit on 6 December when the next capital Beckmann will be auctioned there. Nothing seems to be weakening.

The brutality of some art thieves is increasing, even though they can't do anything with the stolen objects. For example, a bunch of culture despisers in Brabant blew open the door of a gallery to get their hands on a few graphics from Andy Warhol's Queen series. Since their car was too small and the pictures too large, they were simply removed from their frames and damaged in the process. In a similarly brutal manner and under threat of force, thieves in France broke into smaller museums in Paris and Paray-le-Monial. In this case, however, liturgical objects set with precious stones were stolen. This gives rise to concerns that the works of art will be severely damaged just so that the stones can be sold. The thefts took place in broad daylight. Depending on the composition of the museum collection, the owners and their insurers must now consider how they can make access to the museums safer without deterring potential visitors. In many regions of the world, it has long been common practice to have metal detectors and security guards at the entrances of temples of mass consumption (also known as malls). This does not cause any fear of entry for the target group.

COGITANDA - an underwriting agent specialising in the insurance of cyber risks has filed for insolvency. Some of our customers are also affected. However, since the insurance contracts exist between the actual risk carriers and the customers, these continue to apply undiminished. When the contracts are renewed, however, they will have to be adjusted. AI can support and significantly accelerate processes, but in the wrong hands it can also cause a lot of damage. Now there is voice cloning - deceptively genuine. But how can I determine whether the message is actually spoken by the correct or supposed sender? Are the slogans used in election campaigns really from those who are standing for election or just manipulated garbage? Spooky - and the good old gut feeling is on a rollercoaster. Incidentally, there is no insurance against this...

So let's all hope for the rationality of mature citizens... But how did the last election results come about in the still free areas of the world? ‘Fear eats away at the soul’ is a bad counsellor but a good manipulator if you know how to trigger it. Actually, only a broad human and cultural education protects against this, but the latter is the first thing to be cut back in economically hard times – in Berlin, for example, by 12 per cent. Christmas is coming up, so let's wish for something...

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