Gucci Watches Turn Precision Into Art
Gucci watches transcend the basic functions of a timepiece and have become works of art revered by fashion enthusiasts worldwide. Representing the very best of Swiss craftsmanship, these designer watches are renowned for advanced quality, unparalleled accuracy and a consistency of detail and style.
Founded in the early 20th century by Guccio Gucci as a small luggage and saddler business in Florence, this designer company has evolved into a leader of luxury fashion. Gucci watches were first developed in the early 1970s through collaboration with Severin Montres, a Swiss company. In 1997, Severin Montres was purchased by the luxury designer company and eventually became Gucci Watch Group, which includes the fashionable watches of Boucheron, Yves Saint Laurent and Bedat & Co.
Many elements make the watches from this company highly desirable to both men and ladies. Combining the innovative Italian design and styling to the high quality and precision of Swiss watch making craftsmanship, these watches are appreciated for their elegance and excellence. Made from stainless steel, precious metals and precious gems, these watches possess a beauty that transcends them beyond typical quartz timepieces.
Of course, as with most luxury items, Gucci watches can come at a high cost. This gives these watches an exclusivity appreciated by those who purchase them. Prices can range from several hundred to several thousands of dollars. However, a search online can uncover unexpected deals. Online dealers will sometimes discount their stock. Used and vintage luxury pieces can be found frequently on online auction sites.
Whether you’re considering purchasing a Gucci watch for yourself or as an exquisite gift to someone special, you’ll find the high quality craftsmanship and artistic fashionable styling to be both exciting and seductive.
Understanding a Term Life Insurance Quote
There are many different kinds of life insurance; “term” is just one type. What does term insurance actually mean? Before you purchase a term life insurance policy it is very important that you understand what it is. The word “term” means that there is a specific period of time that you are going to have coverage and when that period ends the coverage also ends.
The coverage can go from 5 year to 30 years depending on what you purchase. Keep in mind that the longer the “term” policy is the more expensive it will be. The easiest way to explain the reason for this is simply to say that every day we live brings us a day closer to death. The insurance companies know this and use this information as one part of the equation in determining your insurance rates.
However, there are a couple of things that you can do to make your term life insurance quote more useful to yourself. Do not waste your time getting quotes from “multiple agents” or have “multiple agents” compete for your business. The websites that say things like this are “lead generating” websites. You will fill in the information once, but the website sells your information many, many, many times to insurance agents all over the country. The very next thing that will happen is the exact reason I do not think people should use those sites…all the insurance agents that paid to get your information will now be calling you every day for weeks and sometimes even months afterward trying to sell you an insurance policy.
I recommend people look for sites where they can get an instant term life insurance quote online just by filling in the information and hitting the submit button. Then you will see quotes from competing companies side by side. No website selling your information to a bunch of insurance agents and thus you do not get bothered for weeks by multiple agents calling your house.
Power to the OLD People
IF YOU SAW people over the age of 45 dancing around in front of the Rolling Stones during the Super Bowl halftime show, you can thank me. Well, not me specifically, but people like me who railed at the news that the NFL imagemeisters, who, claiming safety and stamina as the reason, were set to ban the grayhairs from the on-field party. On my blog I mentioned how silly that seemed. Those kinds of responses-thousands of them-managed to change the minds of the NFL before the next news cycle dawned.
To paraphrase a 1960s slogan: Power to the OLD people.
Having turned 54 last month, I am more than a bit sensitive to being referred to as an “older worker.” But by most definitions, that is what I am. Our cover feature this month on the skills gap touches on the question of whether people of my generation are leaving the workforce or hanging around longer than expected. A fear a few years ago was that the baby boomers would head for the hills en masse, taking institutional knowledge with them. Now, some people think we will hang around too long and cut down on opportunities for younger workers to move up. Not to mention that, in many cases, the older workers earn higher salaries, which can be a detriment to a company’s bottom line in this slash and burn business economy.
The problem of pronouncements on the topic is that they have mostly ignored that being 50-plus today is quite different from a generation ago. Long before they reached 60, my parents ran off to Florida to become carefree retirees. So did so many others of their generation. My generation, as far as I can tell, doesn’t want to call it quits quite yet.
The companies that continue to employ us have to make some tough decisions, however. If they want us to hang around, then they need to accommodate our learning needs (or possibly turn us into sage advisors and coaches). They should leverage our knowledge for the entire organization. Employers should also accept that many of us want to play a reduced role, but still be connected to our organizations. We may not want to dance like fools in front of the Rolling Stones. (Frankly, many of us have already done that.) But we don’t want to be told that we can’t.
Now it’s Boots the dentist
BOOTS THE Chemist is set to become Boots the Dentist under a plan unveiled yesterday. Boots is planning to open six dental practices next year as part of a trial scheme that could see the high street giant expand further into the dentistry market.
The surgeries will offer a mix of private and NHS services and be located in stores or separate high street locations. The move is part of Boots strategy to offer additional health-related services in addition to its chemist business. It already operates Boots the Opticians which has 285 branches. In April it began offering health and travel insurance. Last year Boots announced plans to open six trial doctor’s surgeries in conjunction with medical group Sinclair Montrose. The first two or three should open before Christmas. Boots also began a pilot scheme last year where some stores included service counters advising on skin care, oral hygiene and hair colouring. “Dentistry in the UK is going through an exciting period of change,” said Steve Russell, Boots the Chemists’ managing director. “The move is a necessary first step in a programme to explore thoroughly the opportunities in the corporate dentistry market.”
The dentistry market is worth pounds 1.9bn a year and grew by 8 per cent last year. Boots needs a capital investment of pounds 3m and revenue expenditure of pounds 7m over the first two years.
Boots is paying pounds 250,000 for Wilson’s Dentistry which is one of 27 Dental Body Corporates in the UK. These bodies enable companies to operate a number of surgeries outside the usual partnership structure.
Fannie Mae proposes new rules to help mortgage insurance holders
In a surprise move that could lower thousands of homeowners’ monthly mortgage payments this year, the nation’s largest investor in home loans wants to require automatic cancellation of mortgage insurance coverage when borrowers build up substantial equity stakes in their properties.
The proposed policy change by Fannie Mae, outlined in a confidential memo distributed to a small group of mortgage companies late last year, would also require that consumers with insured loans owned by Fannie Mae be notified in writing at least once a year about their rights to terminate mortgage insurance payments, and how to apply to do so.
Fannie Mae’s proposal attempts to defuse one of the most contentious issues in the home mortgage field during the past year: Millions of dollars of payments by homeowners for loan insurance long after the economic need for such insurance has passed. The controversy has produced over two dozen class action suits against major mortgage companies, several of which ended in settlements on the behalf of borrowers. It has also attracted attention in Congress, where legislators have considered requiting disclosure and mandatory termination of insurance coverage when requested by eligible borrowers.
At the center of the issue is a product that millions of homeowners pay for every month - private mortgage insurance or “PMI” - but that is widely misunderstood. Often adding $50 to $100 onto homeowners” monthly mortgage payments, PMI is required by most lenders whenever the borrower obtains a loan with less than a 20 percent down payment.
The insurance protects the lender - or the ultimate purchaser of the loan, like Fannie Mae - against financial loss in the event of a borrower’s nonpayment of principal and interest.
Should a borrower default and the house go to a foreclosure sale the insurance policy pays the lender’s costs to some specified coverage level. Since the risk of loss declines once a borrower has built up at least a 20 percent stake in the property, some lenders and investors permit termination of monthly insurance payments at that point, provided the borrower files a written request.
But many borrowers are unaware of their rights to seek cancellation, and continue paying for coverage far longer than necessary, In one case cited by PMI critic Rep. James V. Hansen, R-Utah, a borrower continued paying insurance premiums for over 20 years, when her equity stake approximated 90 percent.
Fannie Mae, along with its mega-investor rival, Freddie Mac, allows borrowers to request PMI termination under certain circumstances. But neither giant has ever required its mortgage servicers to monitor loans, and to terminate collection of premiums automatically at any point. Nor have they required that consumers be informed systematically of their termination rights.
Fannie Mae’s draft policy memo, written by senior vice president Robert J. Engelstad, would change this dramatically in 1997. For starters, all 2.3 million borrowers holding Fannie Mae mortgages with PMI would receive annual disclosure statements explaining the conditions under which their insurance payments could be ended.
For some borrowers, the termination would be automatic, requiring no request on their part. To be eligible for automatic termination, borrowers would have to have maintained an “acceptable” payment record - no 30-day-late monthly payments during the previous 12 months, and no 30-to-59-day-late payments during the previous two years.
Their loans would also have to have reached a minimum age: at least seven years old for a mortgage with a 15-year or less original term to maturity; or at least 10 years of age for a loan with an original term of more than 15 years.
Other categories of borrowers with “acceptable” payment histories could request termination on their own. If homeowners believe their equity stake has reached 20 percent of the original value of their property, they could contact their mortgage service and request termination. The minimum equity standard would be higher - 30 percent - for borrowers whose properties are used as second homes or rented out as investments.
Borrowers who believe market appreciation or improvements have increased the value of their equity significantly could also apply for insurance termination. Under this “current value” option, borrowers with loans two to five years of age would have to meet a 25 percent minimum equity standard; borrowers with loans five years of older would have to meet a 20 percent equity test. To establish current market value, an appraisal typically would be required at the applicant’s expense.
Sources at Fannie Mae cautioned that the Engelstad proposal are still in the negotiation stage with mortgage servicers and won’t be firmed up until late February. Moreover, sources said, the proposal with the biggest potential impact on borrowers - the automatic monitoring and termination plan - would not take effect until this summer. After that, however, eligible homeowners with Fannie Mae-owned loans could well start receiving surprise good news in the mail - notifications that mortgage insurance no longer is required and that their monthly payments will be reduced immediately. Any excess funds escrowed for PMI would be refunded or credited.
STATE OF THE ART MARKET-2007
Despite the presence of a soft market in the majority of the property and casualty insurance industry, innovation continues apace in the alternative risk transfer (ART) market.
The vast majority of coverage lines in the U.S. insurance market have recently either held steady or have seen reductions. Most of the major reporting sources have confirmed that market softening is occurring in a large segment of the commercial markets.
For example, RIMS Benchmark Survey indicated that in the fourth quarter of 2006 (the most recent numbers available at press time), premiums for commercial insurance saw some of the most dramatic rate reductions of the year. Significant reductions occurred in both directors and officers liability coverage (5.1% reduction) and workers compensation (7.4% reduction). The D&O coverage line-along with most other liability coverages-has benefited from a very competitive market. Workers compensation became competitive due in large part to reform measures that were passed in several large states.
Property problems
The one problem area in the commercial insurance arena has been property insurance. Not just any property insurance, but coastal property, which has a high risk to catastrophic exposure from wind losses. According to the RIMS Benchmark Survey, fourth-quarter increases averaged 6.6%. However, the increases were not confined to the Southeast. Significant rate increases appeared in the MidAtlantic and Northeastern states, as well as with earthquake exposures in California.
It is this hardening property market that has caused a renewed interest in the ART market, which has been helped along by three major factors. First and foremost has been the sheer magnitude of the 2005 storm season’s losses and the overall effect they have had on the reinsurance market. As a result of all that storm activity, cat modelers began to believe that they had underestimated both the frequency and the severity of potential damage.
And finally, subsequent to the 2005 hurricane season, the rating agencies began requiring reinsurers to hold additional capital in order to better “weather” future storm activity. Any one of these factors would normally trigger a significant response from the reinsurance community; however, taken in total, it quickly became apparent that there was not sufficient capital in the insurance industry to meet these challenges.
So over the past two years, the ART market has provided additional amounts of capital via several innovative approaches. Generally these solutions center around several capital market products:
* Cat Bonds-These were one of the first ART products to take advantage of the convergence of the insurance and capital markets. The bonds are written to cover a very narrowly defined risk, typically wind, on an excess of loss basis. While cat bonds have been around for a number of years, the recent increased hurricane activity has caused most experts to agree that their use will continue to increase significantly.
* Sidecars-These types of ART products are a recent innovation. They are primarily a product of the Bermuda marketplace and are structured to attach alongside an existing reinsurance underwriter. These carriers tend to have little interest in becoming a stand-alone insurer but, rather, provide their additional capacity via a quota share basis with the existing underwriter. Subsequent to Hurricane Katrina, sidecars were able to provide additional capacity to the catastrophic property market in a timely fashion.
* Hurricane Derivatives-see accompanying article on page 80.
Other ART products
Another weather-related product has begun to gain significant attention over the past couple of years. In fact, many organizations have begun to consider weather risk management as a key component in their overall risk management program. In essence, weather risk management is made up of two primary components, weather insurance and, now, weather derivatives. Each of these areas has a specific role to fill and should be a part of a comprehensive weather risk management program.
Weather derivatives have been attracting interest in many industry segments and, quite unlike the weather insurance products that are primarily designed to cover catastrophic property losses, weather derivatives involve less-thancatastrophic consequences. These would be the smaller weather exposures that can have just as devastating an effect on an organization’s bottom line as the larger cat losses. These are the losses that occur due to small temperature changes that can affect a wide range of industry segments, everything from beverage manufactures to ski slope operators.
The concept behind weather derivatives is based on “degree days,” which is a temperature-based measurement calculated as the deviation of the average daily temperature from a pre-determined base. The two most popular degree days measurements are the heating degree days (HDD) and the cooling degree days (CDD). The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has been actively trading these types of derivatives since 1999. Today, weather derivatives are routinely used as a hedge against weather volatility around the world. Interest has increased in these types of ART products and significant growth is expected in the future.
London news: the City is getting serious about making money from art. Samson Spanier follows the trail of bank notes
Pin-stripe suits and Krug champagne are not alien to the art world, but there were nevertheless remarkably large amounts of both at art dealers Beddington & Blackman in Savile Row, one evening last month. The neo-Georgian green wails hung with Canaletto-esque views of Venice enjoyed this surfeit because many of London’s financial bigwigs were discussing making money by investing in art something that we all dream about, but which is now being taken seriously for the first time.
These bankers, professors of economics and art dealers had all come from the St George’s Gallery at Sotheby’s, around the corner, where there had been an afternoon of talks about investing in art. It was hosted by the Fine Art Fund, a registered us Limited Partnership managed in the UK, that buys and sells art. It is pushing for clients on both sides of the Atlantic to invest in it a total of $100 million, and New Yorkers should be receiving right now invitations to a similar event in February at Christie’s on 6th Avenue.
The potential gains are huge. If paintings were companies, then between 1979 and 1989 Monet’s Le grand canal would have netted you a 36 per cent gain per year, or some Warhols 24 per cent between 1987 and 2001–not a rate of interest advertised at your bank. The British Rail Pension Fund is the phenomenon that everyone looks up to. It invested 40 million [pounds sterling] in fine art in 1974, and in a series of sales that culminated in 1999, the art returned an annual average of 11.3 per cent.
This is not just a matter for bankers, but a phenomenon that can change the art world. If banks and pension funds invested 1-3 per cent of their value in art as a hedging measure, which Dr Rachel Campbell of the University of Maastricht explains is sound, then the art market would receive a huge fillip.
Ten years ago, the Fine Art Fund might have been dismissed, but now bankers are serious, because the past decade has seen sustained growth in the value of top end works of art. Competition is also springing up, such as from the bank ABN AMRO. The stakes have been raised, moreover, by the change of law in Britain by which people from 2006 will be able to transfer works of art they own into their Self Invested Personal Pension Schemes. Art investment funds have one year to corner the market. This is encouraged by the emergence of companies that track the estimated 250,000 art sales per year. Robin Duthy of Art Market Research says that ‘Objectivity is replacing anecdote’.
There were many puzzled and incredulous faces among the pin-stripes at Sotheby’s, however. One person said, ‘I do not understand why you think you can predict the art market.’ He must have had in his head the crash in the 1990s, when the top-end international art market dropped 55 per cent. This was part of a boom-bust cycle initiated mainly by Japanese companies buying Impressionist and other paintings because they noticed that their country’s stock market was shrinking quicker than the art market. One company bought 700 paintings in one year. Could something similar happen again?
The vagaries of value can be summed up in two comments. Philip Hoffman, Chief Executive of the Fine Art Fund, says ‘A Canaletto cannot revert to zero’, unlike a stock. Pierre Valentin, an art lawyer at Withers, told APOLLO that he disagreed: ‘If your Canaletto turns out to be fake, it is worthless.’ There is, nevertheless, a very attractive extra reason to buy into the Fine Art Fund. Hoffman explained to APOLLO how the Fund’s storage and insurance costs would be met: ‘Rent it out.’ If you invest in oil, you cannot enjoy it; if you invest in this Fund, you can rent your favourite Durer print for a nominal sum.
For those city boys who want to collect on their own, however, it was straight down to the tower at Canary Wharf. Twelve established galleries set up smart black and grey stalls for ‘Art & the City’ (8-10 December). Their aim was to attract first time buyers who had the money but tend not to leave the office. Prices ranged from 2,000 [pounds sterling] to 200,000 [pounds sterling]. Dickinson had everything from a David Teniers the Younger peasant scene to contemporary works. Charles Ede offered a Roman first century AD marble torso of Dionedes, and Rosso and Rossi some Asian painted silks. Haunch of Venison showed a large panoramic photograph of a Havana street by film director Wim Wenders, as well as a Gerhard Richter abstract in burnt umber and grey of 1998. Richter was the star of the room, if the comments of one businesswoman in Dickinson gallery, presumably after many years of exposure to corporate art collections, are anything to go by. She said as she passed another Richter, in impasted grey in which blue breaks from the centre, ‘It’s such a relief to see some good art.’
The Turner Prize caused some unexpected celebrations when the winner was announced last month. Jeremy Deller (above), thirty-eight, won for his video documentaries of quotidian life in President Bush’s home town and in Waco, the site of the cult of David Koresh. The announcement was made at a dinner at Tate, quite unlike the mad crowds at the opening view six weeks before. Deller was delighted, as were afficionados of video art in general and those who consider mainstream education toe prescriptive, since Deller at the age of sixteen was barred by his school from taking a national exam in art. But the greatest cheer was further up the River Thames, from the eighteenth-century grandeur of Somerset House, where the Courtauld Institute resides. Deller took a BA in art history there in 1988. But was this more than a matter of institutional pride? Deller was a budding artist then, and was known to give small works of art to his teachers after they took him on inspiring museum visits. The works of art are now rather valuable. Forget the Fine Art Fund; just teach at the Courtauld instead.
Roundtable: the ins and outs of selling art: experienced gallery owners discuss what they’ve learned over the years about the art business
Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series, in which five gallery owners from New York, North Carolina, Florida, Missouri and California, share what they consider to be important factors to consider before entering the art gallery business, including reasons why for entering the art market; important character traits to have; the best legal structure for an art gallery; and the pros and cons of the business. Part 2 will discuss business plans, market research and means for securing capital. Roundtable participants are Betty Cuningham, Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York (Chelsea); Jonathan Kodner, Kodner Gallery, St. Louis; Richard Roberts, R. Roberts Gallery, Jacksonville, FL; Melanie Smith, Seaside Art Gallery, Nags Head, NC; and Mike Woolsey, Marina Fine Arts, Marina del Rey, CA.
What does it take to be a successful gallery owner in terms of art knowledge, business background and personality traits?
Smith: This is the information age, and it is important to have as much knowledge about art and business as possible. Learning is an ongoing process; there is no end to it. A draw back about the information gathering process is that you soon learn how many things can go wrong, but you still have to find the courage to take the risk in order to accomplish anything. A gallery owner needs to love art and have an outgoing personality, good communication skills, optimism, energy and the ability to understand business principles.
Kodner: Gallery owners should be well-rounded in the arts. In addition to education in specific areas of interest, one should also have a strong innate passion and interest for the profession. Specialists in our field tend to be well-read in most aspects of art, and should have some prior hands-on experience in the field. Gallery owners also must have good business sense and marketing skills–they need to be go-getters.
Cuningham: It takes a great deal of knowledge of art. Some is instinctive, and may come from being an artist yourself, or having looked at a lot of art. Some of the knowledge is learned at the university level by attaining a degree in art history or fine arts. Personality is important, especially when it comes to having patience and a sense of humor. The dealer also needs to have a strong sense of order and responsibility to the artists, as well as clients. It pays off to simply be direct and accommodating.
Roberts: A passion for art is, obviously, essential to run a successful gallery. But that’s just the beginning. A basic business background is critical, just as with any business. It’s important to develop and work a realistic business plan that puts you on a profitable path. You should have sufficient capital to survive at least two to five years, and knowledge of accounting, insurance, marketing and finance is necessary to make it all work. And you must be a people person, and even a little bit of a psychologist because customers connect with different pieces and artists for different reasons. It’s important to be able to “read” people in order to be effective for them and profitable for you.
Woolsey: You have to be a people person who enjoys constant contact with customers. If you’re not an outgoing person, you’re not going to succeed. You can learn the mechanics of operating a business and you can develop knowledge of the art market, but it’s difficult to learn how to be a people person.
What made you want to enter the art business?
Kodner: I grew up in the art business. My father was an avid collector and started our family gallery in the early 1970s. His knowledge and passion for the field was inspiring. As an artist and history buff, I knew from an early age that I was destined to work in art. After graduating from the Kansas City Art Institute, I spent several years working with the Missouri Historical Society. Entering the family business seemed to be the natural progression for my career.
Smith: I also was fortunate enough to grow up in the family business and have a passion for art. My parents opened Seaside more than 40 years ago. So I grew up working in the gallery during the summer and on weekends–doing everything from dusting, changing light bulbs and framing, to eventually working with customers and artists.
Woolsey: I didn’t grow up in the business and I don’t have an art background. But when I was in college during the late 1970s, I purchased some [Salvador] Dali and Leroy Neiman pieces at the Bowles Hopkins Gallery in San Francisco. Jerry Harpin was the sales associate and his knowledge and enthusiasm, coupled with my love for the works I had purchased, helped to fuel my interest in the business. Then, when I graduated from the University of California, Riverside, with a degree in European history, I took a job at the D’Genero Gallery in Marina Del Rey, where I worked from 1981-84, before taking a job at Cuningham, which I’ve owned and managed for the last 15 years.
Roberts: After 25 years in the petroleum industry, it was time for me to explore new opportunities. I was looking for a business venture that I could enjoy on a daily basis. And with the gallery, I had the opportunity to merge a personal interest with a business.
DNA used to authenticate fine art and collectibles
LOS ANGELES — Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (ADNAS), a security solutions company whose plant-based DNA security technology detects and deters fakes, counterfeiting, fraud, piracy and product diversion, has entered into a development agreement with Brown Art Gallery, an Ojai-based contemporary art gallery in Southern California, in order to create security technology specifically for fine art and collectibles. Together, under the terms of agreement, these companies will develop a suite of fine art security solutions.
“We are pleased to be working with the Brown Art Gallery to develop definitive solutions addressing a major concern in the art world–the protection of art assets,” says Adrian Butash, executive vice president of ADNAS. “For the first time in history, a botanical DNA security marker in both the art object and its provenance documentation enables the art and its essential authentication documents to be irrevocably linked together in a scientifically foolproof match-up. DNA’s certitude in authenticating an art object and its documentation through forensic science makes it the absolute standard in art protection.”
Frederick Schmid, director of Brown Art Gallery and a licensed insurance broker for the art world, agrees that DNA’s certitude in authentication, tracking and documentation provides the basis for a better risk-management equation for art insurance. “The Brown Art Gallery has artworks constantly in motion, for exhibition and sale, and reliable asset tracking and security can be a major challenge,” Schmid says. “Applied DNA Sciences’ technology provides a new opportunity for enhanced solutions for both artists and museums.”
The patented DNA security technology is versatile, allowing it to be seamlessly integrated into ink, paper, paint, thread, canvas and holograms, as well as electronic devices, including a DNA microchip “smart card.” ADNAS is developing and will be implementing DNA security for every art discipline, including painting, sculpture, photography and works on paper.
Currently, the Brown Art Gallery has been testing the technology with oils, acrylics and watercolors. Once the systems have been completely tested, the gallery will more onto papers used to produce prints, as well as all materials used in sculpture, including ceramic. Schmid says, “We feel confident that the application of DNA can be used in all materials.”
Butash explains, “Our proprietary technology starts with a plant DNA genome ’snippet’ that is selected as the encryption code or sequence. The DNA is encapsulated (protected), enabling it to survive for hundreds of years. To read the encrypted DNA ‘code,’ the DNA material must be ‘unlocked’ and decoded via a proprietary process. This entire encapsulation/de-encapsulation process is patented.”
Once systems are set in place, the DNA and detection methods will be sold to clients. But for now, the pricing is “confidential” and “nominal” in comparison to the value of the artworks,” says Butash, adding that the technology does not interfere with the artistic process in any way.
He continues, “The DNA can be easily mixed into a paint, ink or varnish at our laboratory. Additionally, it can be added to the very paper or even canvas (via DNA thread) that the artist uses. However, it can be affixed to the finished work of art or sculpture in any number of ways. And, the corresponding documentation will also contain the identical DNA–thus providing an absolute link between the artwork and its documentation.”
American Impressionist painter and owner of the Brown Art Gallery, James-Paul Brown, says, “It gives me a feeling of great confidence that my art, which includes oils, watercolors and prints, will be protected and authenticated for hundreds of years by Applied DNA’s advanced security technology.” For the artist, his limited edition prints, the paper on which they are printed, the paint, as well as the pen or pencil used to sign the editions, will all have a specific covert DNA encryption.
An accomplished artist, Brown has been commissioned by CBS Sports to capture the World Games in Canada; he was commissioned by NBC to paint the Wimbledon Championships; and he has been commissioned by Hewlett-Packard to paint the Monaco Grand Prix.
ADNAS is in discussions with several major museums across the United States and plans on developing programs over the next year with these major art institutions. The company’s partner in China, Biowell Technologies, Inc., who actually developed the DNA security technology, has several art programs put into place, including an ink stamp with one of the most important artists in all of China–Madam Xiao Shu Fang.
“DNA is a forensic science, the highest level of authenticity and assurance, as it is based on the scientific identity of the DNA,” Butash says. “All or most other security measures can be imitated, mimicked or copied, but it is impossible to do that with our encrypted and encapsulated DNA.”
AXA Nordstern Art Insurance Launches Ad Campaign - Brief Article
NEW YORK–AXA Nordstern Art Companies Corporation, a leading art and collectibles insurance specialist, is now reaching out to the art community with a new advertising campaign. “We are a recognized expert in what is a highly specialized market segment,” said Dr. Dietrich von Frank, president and c.e.o. “Our growth over the last 10 years can be attributed primarily to our excellent relationship with and high reputation within the community of insurance brokers. But in today’s competitive, brand-conscious world, it is equally important to establish a solid rapport with our ultimate customer–the collector.”
The new advertising campaign highlights a number of issues depicting useful, but often disregarded, facts on art management with tongue-in-cheek punch lines. Scheduled for appearance throughout the first half of 2001,the ads will be featured in major U.S. art magazines, a move company officials say will raise brand awareness and generate interest in its company Web site (www.axa-art.com).