One of the most intriguing and confusing categories in property insurance involves appraising fine art. With the highest price paid for a work of art now at $250 million, a forgery is comparatively worthless; the potential cost of making an error is enormous.

The official definition of fine art is "a visual art created primarily for aesthetic purposes and viewed positively for its beauty and meaningfulness." Objects considered fine art include paintings, sculptures, drawings, watercolors, graphics, and architecture. Fine art should not be confused with mass produced decorative items, IKEA art, children's drawings, framed posters and the like.

It's common to see a lot of fine art items with incorrect artist attributions and incorrect mediums, which means an incorrect claimed value. Different art mediums such as oil paintings and prints require different authentication methods.

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