Reposted from Art Loss Register

The Art Loss Register is the leading due diligence provider for the art market and maintains the world’s largest private database of stolen art, antiques and collectables. Experts around the world use our services to check the provenance of items before they buy or handle them. Police, insurers, the trade and the public may record items that have been stolen to maximize their chances of recovery, and to record disputes or items within collections. 

The Art Loss Register (ALR) was established in London in 1990. Our founding shareholders included major businesses from the insurance industry and art market. Satellite offices were subsequently opened in New York, Cologne, Amsterdam and Paris to cater to growing client bases in these countries. In January 2010, we consolidated the regional offices into one central, international office, run from London.

The ALR’s origin was The International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR), a not-for-profit organization based in New York. In an attempt to deter international art theft, IFAR established an art theft archive in 1976 and began publishing the “Stolen Art Alert”.

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