8 Steps Collectors Must Take to Protect Their Art

As hurricane season looms, here's how to adequately safeguard an art collection

Hallway with floral art prints on both walls, wooden flooring, and a staircase at the end.
“Flowers,” a suite of ten Andy Warhol screen prints from 1970, hang in a hallway. Photo: Antoine Bootz

With hurricane season underway, here is how to protect your fine art, jewelry and collectibles. At an Art Business Conference in New York earlier this year, lawyers and insurers spoke about the measures collectors can take before and after a disaster to safeguard their works and to ensure they will be reimbursed if they anything is damaged. Here are eight steps to take.

Two palm trees sway by the ocean with a white sculpture, under a clear blue sky.
A sculpture by Carol Bove at a home designed by Victoria Hagan in southeast Florida. William Waldron

BEFORE:

Her collection of colorful artworks allowed O'Neill to personalize the barn.
Identify and inventory all high-value items. Antoine Bootz

AFTER:

East Hampton NY home Architect: Blaze Makoid, Design: David Scott Interiors
An East Hampton residence by architect Blaze Makoid.