8/3/2019 Smoke Damage from 40 miles away
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Smoke Damage from 40 miles away?!I just completed a fine art
claim evaluation from Chubb. I was hired to lookover an estate in
the Los Angeles area to determine smoke damage to fine
art,sculpture, frames, decorated and gilt surfaces and murals that
resulted from
brush fires 2 years ago, 40 miles away.
In the entry, there were 5 vaulted ceilings similar to this one,
except the crown moldings were gold
Obviously, there is probably more dust from the last two years
than there aredeposits from smoke. It might have been possible to
analyze the dust withsophisticated analytical means to determine
the difference between dust andsmoke but that option would have
cost $1,000s and was rejected.
In the end, there are actually two questions: 1. Are there smoke
deposits and 2.Do they cause damage? Since the analysis option was
rejected, the presence ofdeposits from smoke was impossible for me
to see with the naked eye. So, thatquestion is unanswerable. So, my
visit was to confirm or reject the claim ofdamage as a result of
smoke deposits.
http://insurancepersonalpropertyassessments.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/vaulted-ceiling1.jpg
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I carefully went through 10 pages of itemized objects that were
represented in the$500,000.00 claim for repairs. The client
accompanied me through the propertyexplaining what he saw as the
damages and concerns. He showed me gilt finishesthat he thought had
altered in color because of exposure to the smoke.
It is my opinion that the alterations that the client points out
are actually
diverse colors of original finishes that perhaps he no longer
remembers or wasaware of but is now noticing. The gold decorated
surfaces includingarchitectural moldings, door frames, hanging
light surrounds etc do not appear tome to be damaged because they
were coated with a protective varnish whenthey were originally
made. So, the smoke would have never touched the surface ofthe
gilding (which was actually paint in most of the areas!). Close
inspection andtesting of the acrylic surface protective varnish was
done on the columns in theentry hallway (which are included on the
claim). Then, the characteristics of thisprotective finish were
compared to and identified on all other gold surfaces Icould
personally inspect and it is assumed that the decorative
finisher/artists
technique was the same on all gilt surfaces (that were high and
out of the waywhich I could not inspect close up).
The only place this gold finish is damaged/oxidized/altered is
on thebanister of the grand staircase which is due to constant
rubbing andexposure to oils and deposits from hands, not from the
exposure tosmoke. The protective acrylic coatings on the gold
through out thehouse show no evidence of debris/deposits of
smoke.
So, after my careful inspection, of all the individual
items/objects(paintings, frames, etc) and finishes my opinion in my
report is that
there is no alteration of varnish finishes on artwork. The
claimed alterations onframes finishes appear to be
indistinguishable. And the varnish coatings on thegold protected
them from any damage.
In this case, the result of my visit was good for Chubb. .. it
could save themhaving to pay out the $500,000.00 claim. But then
again, I inspected a singlepainting once for Chubb that was a claim
for just shy of $1/2 million and theypaid out even though they
didnt have to because they wanted to keep the client
who had a massive collection, boats and other toys, houses etc
all insured withthem. So, in the end, what motivates the business
of how an insurance companysettles a claim?
Well, all that is not really my problem. Im an advocate for the
artwork. I tell itstraight regardless of who is paying my billing.
That makes me a credible expert
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witness and legal testimony.
Decorative moldings were through out the house painted in gold,
not gilt.
Questions? Call Scott M. Haskins ([email protected])805 564
3438Art appraisal questions? Call Richard Holgate
([email protected]) 805 8955121
For other articles on insurance fine art claims matters go
tohttp://insurancepersonalpropertyassessments.com/
For our art conservation blog and a video tour of our lab, go
tohttp://www.fineartconservationlab.com
(See testimonials)
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athttp://www.youtube.com/user/bestartdoc?feature=mhee(See
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