For a family office, a private banker or a fiduciary, works of art are an awkward class of assets: there is no public register of ownership, even the purchase invoice is an indication of title and not proof of it, values cannot be read off a price list, and every piece is unique. Administering them with the diligence reserved for financial or property assets requires skills that rarely form part of the ordinary operations of a wealth management structure. Some operators, and family offices in particular, therefore adopt a hybrid model: asset administration stays in house and, for art, they rely on outside specialists, from advisory to inventory, from updating values to preparing the generational transfer.
The five requirements
Independence of the advisor. Whoever administers assets on behalf of others needs an advisor paid by the estate administered alone: a fee agreed in writing before the engagement, no inventory for sale or on consignment, and no commission arrangements with sellers (fees are dealt with in the dedicated article).
Scientific inventory and separation of the appraiser's role. Every work must be uniquely identified: a descriptive record, photographs, provenance and supporting documents, in a form that can be consulted by those who were not present when the inventory was drawn up. Values are set by an appraiser under a separate engagement and for a stated purpose, because an insurance valuation follows different criteria from one for the division of an estate, and an undated valuation says nothing. Where the same practice also provides art advisory, the two functions remain separate and whoever has appraised a work does not handle its sale.
Documentary rigour. Invoices, period photographs, policies with the sums insured, exhibition catalogues, correspondence and archive opinions must be gathered and critically assessed: they are the historical evidence of the work and the basis from which, in the event of a dispute, its ownership is established. The material gathered at this stage is confidential and is never used to solicit transactions.
Collection management. Written procedures are needed for authorising loans, transport and restoration, for insurance cover away from the premises, for recording every incoming and outgoing movement, and for the frequency with which values are updated. This is the function of the collection manager, who in this practice deals exclusively with what exists and takes no part in purchases or sales.
Generational transfer. Written rules on who decides, who is accountable and by what procedure: a family governance framework dedicated to the collection, put in place before it is needed rather than when the moment has arrived.
The boundary with the other professionals
The boundaries must be stated precisely. For tax, succession and corporate matters the interlocutor remains the notary or the tax adviser; for policy clauses, the broker; for contracts and title, the private-client lawyer. The task of the advisor and the appraiser is to provide these professionals with clear, reasoned and verifiable technical data, appraisals and documentary analyses — not to replace them.