RiskProNet Teleconference Featuring Colleen Boyle

2017 Agenda: Personal Use of Business Autos, Millennials at Work + More

What’s on the agenda for the Personal Lines Practice Group in 2017?

Suggestions ranged from personal use of business autos to hiring, handling and keeping millennials at this month’s teleconference, chaired by George Pester of Johnson Kendall Johnson.

THESE WERE AMONG THE TOPICS

• Training new producers
• Social media campaigns that keep the agency’s name in front of clients and prospects
• Social media’s role in client retention
• How your agency can increase visibility through volunteer days, networking groups and other efforts
• Improvements in the claims process
• Risk management techniques that lower risks
• Technology and risks, such as helping clients in geographic areas where alarm systems are required
• Segmenting clients and the use of service center
• How to hire, handle and keep millennials
• Time management
• Client retention strategies
• Motivating service teams to offer additional products to clients
• Community events that draw business to the agency
• Personal use of business vehicles and insurance pitfalls
• Encouraging referrals from commercial lines
• Structuring service teams

The next teleconference will be Dec. 14 with Colleen Boyle, senior vice president-national sales director of The Fine Art Group, as a guest speaker. Her topic will “Completing the Picture of Wealth: Managing Tangible Assets.”

PROTECTING YOUR CLOSETS

Following Hurricane Sandy clean up, The Fine Art Group recognized that all too often closets were an overlooked entity of the risk management portfolio. Entire collections of custom suits, evening gowns, handmade leather handbags and luxury apparel, often highly prized by our clients, were left in ruins with few avenues to rectify the situation.

As a direct result of our clients’ increased demands to appraise their wearable collections, we have developed the Wearable Collection Inventory and Valuation Service. As with our other appraisal services, the The Fine Art Group team will document and photograph the collection on-site. The wearable assets will be appropriately catalogued, photographed, researched and valued, and clients will be presented with a detailed appraisal report containing the retail replacement values for each item.

As part of the report, The Fine Art Group will also provide market data on couture items that are rapidly appreciating –– arming clients with the necessary information to better bolster their risk management portfolio as well as provide necessary metrics for monetization strategies in wealth management.

FURTHER INFORMATION

• Watch The Educated Eye: Understanding the Hermès Luxury Handbag Market

DUE DILIGENCE IN BUILDING OUR COLLECTION OF CONTEMPORARY ART

With prices high and artist’s incorporating a vast array of media, collectors must be hyper-vigilant when selecting works of contemporary art. Not sure what to look for? Here is a quick overview that every collector should consider before committing to a purchase.

• Investigate the value: With respect to valuation, do not rely on the seller’s representations. Instead, research the value of the work yourself, and consult with an independent professional such as an appraiser or art advisor familiar with the artist’s market.
• Evaluate the condition: Always physically inspect the work in person (and for significant purchases, obtain a condition report) to ensure the work is not damaged and free of obvious condition issues.
• Consider the materials used: For works with non-traditional or ephemeral materials, investigate the risk that the work will deteriorate, and learn the best methods to preserve the work. No one wants to purchase an expensive work of art that is not made to withhold  the test of time.
• Research the history of the work: For previously-owned works, conduct some background research to verify the authenticity of the work and the provenance information provided by the seller. The Art Loss Register and Art Claim are great resources to find out whether the work has been reported as stolen, looted or missing, and searching state Uniform Commercial Code databases will confirm that the work is not subject to a third-party’s security interest.
• Seek advice: The Fine Art Group is equipped with the necessary expertise to guide you in building your collection. We work with collectors every step of the way, from defining tastes and negotiating list prices, to delivery, storage and conservation.

*With information provided by Amelia K. Brankov, Attorney, Frankfurt KurnitKlein + Selz PC

OUR SERVICES

Understanding value is the cornerstone to effectively managing a collection – and at The Fine Art Group, it is this understanding that enables us to work as trusted fiduciaries for our clients, and their objects. We are experienced providing appraisals for a wide range of purposes, and are also specialists in unique and complicated appraisal scenarios.

The exhibition brings together a selection of artworks realized between 1959 to 1994 by Edward Kienholz and Nancy Reddin Kienholz, including the well-known installation ‘Five Car Stud’ that gives the show its title.
A life-sized reproduction of a scene of racial violence, Five Car Stud is considered one of the American artist’s most significant works. Despite the controversy and attention that it earned from critics right from its debut, the piece remained hidden from view in the storage of a Japanese collector for almost forty years.
‘Five Car Stud” is now part of the Prada Collection, and is being shown for the first time ever in Italy, where it forms the central nucleus of an exhibition path that runs from the Sud gallery to the Deposito, and extends into an external space, presenting 25 artworks including sculpture, assemblages and tableaux realized by the Kienholzes from 1959 to 1994, as well as documentation material on the history and making of Five Car Stud.
The exhibition  offers what Peter Aspden in the Financial Times, calls “ withering critiques of US society”.  It  includes representations of violent situations that the Foundation warns may disturb or offend some visitors. The Foundation advises minors to avoid visiting the exhibition, and in any case may do so only when accompanied by an adult who assumes full responsibility for the visit.
For further information about the exhibition click here
For a review of the exhibition by Peter Aspden in the Financial Times click here

OUR SERVICES

Offering expert Advisory across sectors, our dedicated Advisory and Sales Agency teams combine strategic insight with transparent advice to guide our clients seamlessly through the market. We always welcome the opportunity to discuss our strategies and services in depth.

The fifteenth International Architecture Exhibition is being held in the Giardini and the Arsenale venues as well as in various other venues in Venice. The Exhibition includes 88 Participants from 37 different countries, as well as 62 National Participations and a selected choice of Collateral Events.

Alejandro Aravena, the Exhibition’s curator, describes the aims of the Exhibition as follows: “We believe that the advancement of architecture is not a goal in itself but a way to improve people’s quality of life. Given life ranges from very basic physical needs to the most intangible dimensions of the human condition, consequently, improving the quality of the built environment is an endeavour that has to tackle many fronts: from guaranteeing very concrete, down-to-earth living standards to interpreting and fulfilling human desires, from respecting the single individual to taking care of the common good, from efficiently hosting daily activities to expanding the frontiers of civilization.

Our curatorial proposal is twofold: on the one hand we would like to widen the range of issues to which architecture is expected to respond, adding explicitly to the cultural and artistic dimensions that already belong to our scope, those that are on the social, political, economical and environmental end of the spectrum. On the other hand, we would like to highlight the fact that architecture is called to respond to more than one dimension at the time, integrating a variety of fields instead of choosing one or another.”

The Meetings on Architecture are a programme of events on the themes and case studies presented at the Biennale. The talks will take place throughout the whole period of the Biennale Architettura 2016, involving the architects and participants invited.

For more information click here.

For a review of the Exhibition by Edwin Heathcote in the Financial Times click here.

OUR SERVICES

Offering expert Advisory across sectors, our dedicated Advisory and Sales Agency teams combine strategic insight with transparent advice to guide our clients seamlessly through the market. We always welcome the opportunity to discuss our strategies and services in depth.

Clients attending Art Basel are invited to explore one of the season’s most prestigious art events in VIP style.

As a globally respected art advisory firm, our collective expertise ensures the very best independent advice is at our clients’ disposal. This year, we are pleased to bring that white-glove expertise to your art fair experience at Art Basel Miami Beach.

We advise arriving at least one hour early to allow ample time to find parking, collect or purchase your ticket, leave items with coat check and go through security.

VIP EVENTS & TIMES

First Choice (by invitation only):     Wed, Nov 30, 2016            11am
Preview (by invitation only):             Wed, Nov 30, 2016            3pm-8pm
Vernissage (by invitation only):       Thu, Dec 1, 2016                11am-3pm

Public days                                   
Thu, Dec 1, 2016,                                3pm to 8pm
Fri & Sat, December 2 & 3, 2016      12 noon to 8pm
Sun, December 4, 2016                     12 noon to 6pm

TICKET INFORMATION

• Tickets for Art Basel are available online at artbasel.com/miami-beach/buy-tickets
• Each client must purchase their ticket prior to meeting with an Art Advisor

CONCURRENT ART FAIRS

During Art Basel, there are a variety of concurrent art fairs that cater to different collecting interests and various price points. Pall Mall Art Advisors is happy to offer consultations at the fairs listed below. For more details, please contact Stephanie McNeil or Shane Hall.

ADDITIONAL SERVICES

Throughout the duration of Art Basel, our team of Art Advisors will be available to provide additional information on works of art you may be interested in acquiring.

Details may include insight into market trends, tips on collecting, metrics behind a selected work of art, valuable insight into the artist’s market, gallery negotiation and assistance with acquisition.

OUR SERVICES

Offering expert Advisory across sectors, our dedicated Advisory and Sales Agency teams combine strategic insight with transparent advice to guide our clients seamlessly through the market. We always welcome the opportunity to discuss our strategies and services in depth.

Tate Modern presents the largest retrospective of modernist painter Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) ever to be shown outside of America. Marking a century since O’Keeffe’s debut in New York in 1916, it is the first UK exhibition of her work for over twenty years. This ambitious and wide-ranging survey reassesses the artist’s place in the canon of twentieth-century art and reveals her profound importance. With no works by O’Keeffe in UK public collections, the exhibition is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for European audiences to view her oeuvre in such depth.

Widely recognized as a founding figure of American modernism, O’Keeffe gained a central position in leading art circles between the 1910s and the 1970s. She was also claimed as an important pioneer by feminist artists of the 1970s. Spanning the six decades in which O’Keeffe was at her most productive and featuring over 100 major works, the exhibition charts the progression of her practice from her early abstract experiments to her late works, aiming to dispel the clichés that persist about the artist and her painting.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue from Tate Publishing and a program of talks and events in the gallery information about which is available on the website.

Tickets can be booked up to 8 hours in advance online or up to 24 hours in advance by telephone on +44 (0)20 7887 8888.

For more information click here.

OUR SERVICES

Offering expert Advisory across sectors, our dedicated Advisory and Sales Agency teams combine strategic insight with transparent advice to guide our clients seamlessly through the market. We always welcome the opportunity to discuss our strategies and services in depth.

According to the latest news reports on Weather.com, Hurricane Matthew is now strengthening again over warm water north of Cuba, with the Bahamas and parts of Florida’s Atlantic coast, the Georgia coast, and coastal Carolinas potentially in line for a strong hurricane strike. In light of these concerns, The Fine Art Group is releasing a list of what to do before, during and after in order to minimize losses of tangible assets.

With limited time to prepare and people already acting on plans to evacuate, we highly recommend starting with a call to your insurance broker to verify proper insurance coverage for all tangible assets, including flood insurance. If you have not done so already, you may wish to provide them a copy of your video appraisal as well as receipt of any recent acquisitions. If preparing to move some art, verify your policy covers transportation as some do not.

As a reminder, most property damage caused by hurricanes is a result of strong winds, heavy rainfall and storm surges. If pressed for time, using sandbags to build a perimeter around flood-prone ares as well as boarding up windows is the least you should do to prevent significant damage. Next, consider removing art from walls made of plaster and art hanging on walls across from windows. Do not store any valuable art or collectibles below ground level (such as the basement). If unable to relocate the art to a safe location out of the storm’s path, move the art to a safe room at the center of the structure that is free from windows, such as a hall closet or bathroom.

HURRICANE PLAN OF ACTION FOR PROTECTING TANGIBLE ASSETS

PREPARATION BEFORE THE STORM

• Discuss insurance coverage with your broker. Review your policy for costly gaps in coverage. If moving any fine art, verify that your collection is insured during transit. Some insurance companies have a waiting period before activation of policy changes, so plan ahead.
• Determine the type of damage your building and area is likely to suffer. Are trees likely to fall from strong winds? Have them trimmed regularly to remove weaker branches. Do you have lots of windows? Prepare to board them up. Are you located in a flood zone? Know where you can find sandbags in the event of an emergency and avoid storing valuables in the basement.
• Update your inventory with photographs and copies of your receipts. For maintaining records of your tangible assets, The Fine Art Group offers video inventories that can be shared with your insurance broker and used to reconstruct the contents of your home in the event of a loss. Think about items you have acquired recently or didn’t have included in a recent appraisal.
• Maintain a list of fine art shippers, art storage facilities, conservationists and your insurance broker. Turn your smartphone camera into a scanner with apps like CamScanner and Scannable to capture records and receipts digitally to store on the cloud and store important paper records in a waterproof safe.
• Establish a plan to relocate valuables. Select a reputable fine art shipper to move valuables to a predetermined secondary location out of the storms path.
• Collect all of the recommended items, below, for your Tangible Asset Emergency Kit.
• If you are likely to be away in the event of an emergency, communicate emergency plans with your property manager. Ensure they are aware of your valuables and know how to handle them during an emergency.

DURING STORM WARNINGS AND ACTIVE STORMS

• Board windows and establish a perimeter of sandbags around flood-prone zones.
• Remove art from damage-prone areas. This includes art facing windows and art hanging on walls made of plaster. Plaster becomes damp and may not have the structural integrity to support works of art.Learn from the mistakes of Hurricane Sandy and avoid storing valuables in the basement.
• Move works of art to a safe room, preferably a room without windows located at the center of the structure. Pack valuables in waterproof crates and plastic bins. Use acid free cardboard to prevent frames and works on paper from touching. You may also carefully wrap valuables in plastic poly to prevent water damage, possibly using acid free cardboard (and extra caution) to protect the surface. If possible, keep the works of art elevated from the floor should flooding occur.
• Monitor the storms progress and be prepared to evacuate.

DEALING WITH THE AFTERMATH

• If the structure is secure, begin assessing the damage. Photograph overall damage to the site with subsequent photographs of specific damage.
• Do not throw away any damaged items! Even if the item is a total loss, consult with your insurance broker first and photograph the item for later claims.
• Move items out of harms way and to a safe, dry location.
• If necessary, put the dehumidifier and wet vac to use! Create an air-flow with fans and the AC. Clearing the air of moisture is key to preventing further damage from mold.
• Inspect the property for any new leaks and board up any damaged areas.
• Inform your insurance broker and begin the process of filing a claim. If faced with sizeable damage to your collectibles and art, establish a plan of action with your insurance broker in collaboration with art handlers, conservationists and appraisers.

HURRICANE EMERGENCY KIT FOR FINE ART PROTECTIONS

Like an Emergency Kit, we recommend keeping these items on hand to manage your art collection in the event of a natural disaster. These items can be used to thoroughly document any damage, protect your collection as best as possible during an emergency, and prevent further damage from occurring.

• To document: Digital camera with extra memory card, batteries and charger, pencils, notepad, flashlights with additional batteries.
• To pack and transport: Latex gloves, rolls of plastic poly, packing tape, string tags, labels, scissors, box cutters, markers, acid free cardboard sheets and tissue paper.
• To protect during and after: Sand bags, plastic bins, waterproof crates, buckets, portable generator, dehumidifier, wet/dry vacuum, fans and extension cords.

FURTHER INFORMATION

• Watch Art, Cars & Collectibles: How to Mitigate Risk before Disaster Hits
• Read more about how climate change is affecting the art world and how collectors protect their investments.

OUR SERVICES

Understanding value is the cornerstone to effectively managing a collection – and at The Fine Art Group, it is this understanding that enables us to work as trusted fiduciaries for our clients, and their objects. We are experienced providing appraisals for a wide range of purposes, and are also specialists in unique and complicated appraisal scenarios.

Investment guru and Chairman of the Board at Pall Mall Art Advisors, Todd Ruppert, talks to Spear’s Magazine about networking skills and helping businesses succeed.

This is the largest Francis Bacon exhibition ever staged in the north of England displaying more than thirty paintings, alongside a group of rarely seen drawings and documents, the exhibition aims to make visitors think differently about the artist’s “bleak and depressing” output.

Francis Bacon often painted a ghost-like frame or structure around the subjects of his paintings.  This powerful device skillfully draws our attention to the figures within his work, intensifying their emotional state to us the viewer. Francis Bacon: Invisible Rooms looks at some of the artist’s most iconic and powerful paintings with a special focus on this recurring motif in his paintings.

An element introduced by the artist in the 1930s, Bacon used a barely visible cubic or elliptic cage around the figures depicted to create his dramatic composition. The exhibition demonstrates the ongoing development of the motif, which Bacon tested in different ways from its inception. A period of experimentation on paper in the late 1950s and early 1960s gave way to a greater spatial complexity in the late 1960s, 70s and 80s, where the cubic cages were transformed into theatrical spaces, demonstrated in 1967’s Triptych Inspired by T.S. Eliot’s ‘Sweeney Agonistes’ (Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden).

There is a parallel exhibition of works by the Austrian painter Marie Lassnig which provides the first UK retrospective of one of the 20th century’s most original painters.

For a review of the exhibition click here.

For more information click here.

OUR SERVICES

Offering expert Advisory across sectors, our dedicated Advisory and Sales Agency teams combine strategic insight with transparent advice to guide our clients seamlessly through the market. We always welcome the opportunity to discuss our strategies and services in depth.

Did the recent discovery of a copy of a Shakespeare First Folio at Mount Stuart, the Isle of Bute home of the Marquess of Bute, send you rushing to your shelves? If not, why not?

Even if you strongly suspected you didn’t own the First Folio, did you not for a moment entertain a pulse-racing, lingering doubt that you might at least have a copy of the Second, which has the additional value of containing the first appearance in print of another giant of English Literature, John Milton?
Even if the discovery didn’t prompt any such ambitious reaction, did it, though, at least suggest a return visit to those well stocked, double banked shelves, in the hope of finding something of value even it was unlikely to bear much comparison with that of a Shakespeare First Folio? (Good copies have fetched over £2m and up to £3.5m at auction). But might there, at least, be a good Dickens First Edition, or a James Bond, or even, a Harry Potter?

The first print run of Harry Potter and The Philosophers Stone consisted of 500 copies which retailed at £10.99 in 1997. A pristine copy can now fetch £15,000 to £20,000 at auction.

Recent years have seen substantial price rises for a number of categories of books such as travel, economics and science. Stanley Gibbons Investments recently published an index of valuable books based on past auction data. The most expensive title on the list was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby valued at £246,636 in 2015 with an increase in value of over 13 times since 1996 when it was priced at £18,056. The next most valuable on their list was The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien at £65,420, it having doubled its price of two years ago.

* Top ten first edition books that have seen the most growth. Source: Stanley Gibbons

These prices will have been achieved for copies in near mint condition. It is important to remember that condition is king and will hugely affect the price, along with other factors such as provenance, association, the presence or not of dust wrappers, etc. By and large, investment is best considered over the longer term. Pall Mall Art Advisors can source items or offer guidance on putting a collection together.

When did you last have your collection valued for insurance or other purposes? If books and manuscripts form part of trust assets, are they listed at current values? Books and manuscripts may provide a useful means of transferring wealth to succeeding generations or, if they meet the correct criteria, an opportunity for tax planning taking advantage of Acceptance in lieu or the Cultural Gifts Scheme.
If you would like to discuss any of these issues further, please get in touch. Our book and manuscript specialists John Sibbald and Dr Murray Simpson combine a wealth of knowledge and experience.

John Sibbald
Book & Manuscript Specialist UK
John Sibbald combines over forty years of library, antiquarian bookselling and auction experience.

Dr Murray Simpson
Book & Manuscript Specialist UK
Dr Murray Simpson was, until his retrial in 2008, Head of the Manuscript Division at the National Library of Scotland. His particular expertise equips Pall Mall Art Advisors to be leading specialists in archive valuations.

Researchers believe that 750 or fewer copies of the First Folio were printed, 234 survive today, of which 82 are in the Folger Library in Washington, DC.  If your collection lacks this treasure, you may, at least, console yourself by viewing a digital version here.  Alternatively, if the Shakespeare 400th anniversary celebrations are really enthusing you, there is at least one copy of the Second Folio currently on the market (around £275,000) –  although the dedicated collector might also want to think about the specialist Christie’s auction (25 May) comprising just four lots – a copy of each of the first four Folios.

OUR SERVICES

Offering expert Advisory across sectors, our dedicated Advisory and Sales Agency teams combine strategic insight with transparent advice to guide our clients seamlessly through the market. We always welcome the opportunity to discuss our strategies and services in depth.