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This is a difficult question we face every time we send items out on loan, and indeed for incoming loans as well as lenders, particularly private lenders, look to us for guidance. As what we collect are not just the objects, but the provenance that goes with them, many of our objects are in fact, irreplaceable. While yes, we can replace some objects one to one with equally good stories, other items have value far beyond their market value because we cannot replace them. With these we factor in market value but what we arrive at is a "feel good" value. In other words, what would make you feel better, to continue to improve your collection, if this item were irreparably damaged or lost. Clearly the chances of this are low if you have vetted the borrowing institution.

We have worked with our insurance company in determining worth on some objects that suffered water damage due to a roof leak.  In that case we were able to have them cover the cost of conservation treatment, as the objects in question weren't destroyed, but damaged, and required cleaning and restoration.

Hi Tara,

This is an excellent question! Being the Registrar and the one to deal with the collection insurance and documenting the objects in the collection, I am the one to typically research the insurance value before an object goes out on loan. The first place I look are at auction results for similar or exact objects in the last several years. As the market continuously changes, looking at auctions too far back can be unhelpful in estimating a current estimated insurance value. This will help in establishing a replacement value, which is what insurance companies tend to look for. I always start at liveauctioneers.com, Sotheby's, Christie's, and the like depending on the type of object. If you believe the object to be quite valuable, but the auction results you are finding don't seem to line up (which I've experienced), it is recommended to have a professional appraisal completed prior to lending the object. While in most cases you won't have any issues with lending an object, you always want to prepare for the worst and assign an accurate insurance value for the object. Borrowing institutions may require this as well in order to ensure they have adequate insurance coverage while your object is on loan to them. I hope you find this helpful!

I would like to pose an adjacent question to you knowledgable folks:  I have a former colleague who is, as a volunteer, trying to assist with the arrangements and implementation of an exhibition of art objects of considerable material value to be loaned by private collectors (a couple).  The owners do not hold their own rider for the collection.

The exhibition will be installed in a space controlled by an association of artists who do not insure their temporary exhibitions of contemporary, living artists who typically lend (or submit) knowing this is the case.

Can someone among you suggest a means toward insuring the collection while it is in the temporary exhibition?

Thank you!

Lots of good information posted here and this is certainly not an exact science. A couple of points to reinforce or add:

as the curator of a specific collection, you may be the person most qualified to set the value

if you can find a recent value online, remember to add auction fees, sales tax, shipping/handling, and the value of the time of the curator to find a replacement

consider adjusting the values in your system for inflation

if in doubt go a little higher and make the insurance company argue you down, much easier than fighting uphill because of an out of date value. Losing the item may have a significant impact on your collection, having out of pocket financial obligations would only compound the issue

worthpoint.com is a site that compiles sales values from many platforms, though it requires a subscription