Beware of water damage

October 28, 2024

Articles

Depending on the material that the artwork is made of the restoration process can either be relatively straightforward or significantly more complex and intricate.  A bronze sculpture or ceramics would need to be treated for mold and wiped down whereas a wooden sculpture will likely suffer water damage during a flood and the full extent of the damage might only become evident over time. 

Nhlanzeko Mngomezulu, Claims Manager: Art, Drones, Crisis and Contingency at iTOO Special Risks, explains that in an increasing amount of cases, the damage is so severe that it is difficult to restore the insured item to its original condition without incurring huge costs.

Paintings and photographs are most likely to suffer some of the worst water damage and the complexity of their restoration often largely depends on the type of material and medium used, for example, whether they had been done on paper or canvas.

iTOO’s policy does state that any works in storage should be placed on racks or pallets at least 10cm above the ground in case of flooding. One of the benefits included on the policy is that if there is a warning of a natural disaster or a fire, iTOO will, if notified, arrange for the collection to be removed from the premises and put into safekeeping.

Additionally, collectors should ensure that the premises where their art collections are being stored are well-maintained to mitigate the risk and the impact of adverse weather events.

Should an insured work be damaged during a flood, for instance, it is taken to a specific restorer who is qualified to restore that particular medium. Different restorers specialise in paper, canvas or sculptures, among others.

Once the restoration is done, the work would be re-evaluated and if there was any depreciation on it, the policy would respond to have this amount settled. With iTOO’s private collector policy, the client has the option to declare the item a total loss or to have it restored.

So, with extreme weather events becoming increasingly frequent and destructive, art collectors should be proactive in protecting their collections. In light of current trends, art owners should not think in terms of if an adverse event occurs, but rather when.



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