Security is one of many considerations when buying fine art. For a comprehensive take on all aspects, it’s hard to beat The Art of Buying Art by Alan S. Bamberger, noted art expert, author, and syndicated columnist. It’s generally thought to the best and easiest-to-understand book on how to buy, sell, evaluate, appraise, and collect art.

There are 26 chapters in the book, including Make Sure It’s Original, Dealer Dealings, Certificates of Authenticity and Appraisals, How Not to Buy Art, Forgers, Fakes, and Scams, and Negotiate the Buy.

Appendixes deal with auction records, price guides, appraiser associations, auction houses, artist dictionaries, encyclopedias, art periodicals, art dealers association, and other valuable references.

For those who are just beginning to collect, or who are thinking about collecting, this book, with its accessible language is a great initiation. For those who are collecting already, it is a valuable resource on how to do things right.

The theft of artwork from a Southampton, NY home is the second such heist to hit the exclusive enclave in the past month, police have revealed. One or more thieves climbed through a window at a home on Gin Lane sometime between February 14 and 16 and made off with an unknown number of works.

A few days prior, thirteen paintings reportedly worth $250,000 were taken from a different residence.  Among the items stolen then were works by Frederick H. McDuff, Jean Duffy, Jacques Martin-Ferrieres, Howard Behrens, Pierre Bittar and C. Everley. Detectives are considering the strong possibility that the two thefts are related.

Earlier in February, $750,000 worth of watches, jewelry, and works by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and others were stolen from a well-secured New York City building.  We reported on this incident here

The three heists highlight an alarming fact: art is valuable, and often unprotected. Even when the building itself is protected, as in the New York City case, individual pieces may not be. Seasonal and weekend residences are particularly vulnerable to theft because they are often unoccupied for long stretches of time.

The brazen theft of iconoclastic paintings from a well-secured New York City building has highlighted the need for additional measures to protect hanging art. Police estimated that thieves made off with $750,000 worth of watches, jewelry, and works by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and others.

The thieves bypassed several state-of-the-art security measures to get into the five-story building, the New York Post reported. The sole elevator was key-operated, and surveillance cameras were operating inside the apartment. But the thieves made off with the video recorder attached to the cameras, taking the evidence of the crime with them. The apartment was entered by drilling a hole through the wall of a hallway sometime between Nov. 24 and 28, police believe.

For more detailed information on this theft, please visit Art Knowledge News.

Once the apartment’s security system had been breached, the artwork itself was essentially defenseless. This is where an art security system such as Art Guard’s new second-generation RF transmitters can add a vital second level of defense.

Each piece of art is protected by a sensor that will instantly notify authorities on or off premises when it the artwork is tampered with.  Art Guard can be integrated in a variety of central systems, or used as a plug-and-play system that is particularly effective in private homes. When other security measures are turned off during the daytime, Art Guard is still on, working around the clock. The system offers telephone and computer communication and complete compatibility with the full range of GE security sensors. It is user installed, highly affordable and easily expanded.

Individual works of art are irreplaceable. Fortunately they can now be protected at a fraction of their value.