Art Recovery Group have developed the database over the past 12 months in consultation with art market, law enforcement and insurance professionals.
The database offers four services: a search facility, registration of items, instant alerts and collection management. These services are overseen by ArtClaim's international team of provenance research specialists and art market analysts.
Art Recovery report around 5000 items a week currently being added to the database from various date sources around the world.
Database Challenge
The launch is a clear challenge to the pre-eminence of the Art Loss Register database, which has dominated the due diligence and recovery sector for the past 25 years, although it not yet clear how the two services will differ.
Potential clients will have the opportunity to find out in the next month, during which time ArtClaim services will be free to use. Thereafter, loss records for uniquely-identifiable objects will be free to register on the database.
Christopher Marinello, CEO of Art Recovery Group, set up the new venture after quitting as director general counsel to the Art Loss Register and promises "innovative technological solutions to art-based due diligence, offering fully-integrated image recognition technology and over 500 data fields for every item registered or searched".
"Their inclusion provides greater transparency and less risk to transactions by identifying and recording the widest range of obstructions to clear title," he argues.
