Fine art insurance

On October 19, 2025, eight pieces of the French Crown Jewels left the Louvre's Apollo Gallery in under eight minutes, a loss the Paris prosecutor put at 88 million euros. Fine art insurance covers that kind of property: artworks, antiques, private and public collections, against theft, accidental damage, fire, water damage and natural catastrophes. What sets it apart from an ordinary property policy is, first, valuation. A work of art has no stable price; it moves with the market, the artist's standing and the latest auction results. Hence two ways to insure it. Under agreed value, insurer and insured fix an amount at inception, paid without argument after a loss; under market value, an appraiser prices the loss after the fact, and that is where disputes start. Two clauses settle a good share of claims. The pair and set clause pays for the lost value of the whole set when one piece is stolen or broken. Depreciation after restoration pays what a restored work still loses on the market, however well it was repaired. Provenance matters just as much: a work with contested title or a history of looting or forced sale carries a legal risk no insurer will take. Museum loans and art fair shipments are covered nail to nail, because handling is when works get damaged. Then there is restoration after a loss, often expensive, done by approved conservators whose fees are part of the cover.