What we move · Fine Art & Antiques
Moving Fine Art and Antiques
Art rarely gets stolen in transit. It gets damaged — by a doorframe, by a temperature swing, by a well-meaning person holding a gilt frame by its ornament. The threats are physical and mundane, and they are almost entirely avoidable.
Tell us what, from where, and roughly when. No obligation, and no inventory list needed to start the conversation.
Unmarked
No livery, no logo, nothing that names the cargo
Two-person
Every movement. One never leaves the property
Signed
Chain of custody at every handoff, timestamped
1983
Operating the destination vault since
Why this is different
The problem worth solving
The condition report is the whole game. Without one made before the piece is wrapped, any damage discovered later is undatable — it might have happened in the van, or it might have been there since 1974. Insurers know this, which is why an unreported claim on an unreported condition is a slow and unhappy process.
Procedure
How it is handled
- 01Photographed and condition-reported before anything is touched, including the back and the frame.
- 02Soft-wrapped and corner-protected; crated where the piece or the journey needs it.
- 03Carried vertically, never flat, and never stacked.
- 04Climate managed in the vehicle — a hot Florida van is a genuine hazard for panel, canvas and veneer.
- 05Into a vault held at controlled temperature and humidity, not a warehouse unit.
- 06Condition re-checked on arrival and countersigned.
What to expect on the day
Florida humidity is the specific enemy here. Panel paintings, marquetry, veneered furniture and anything with an animal glue joint react to moisture, and the reaction is cumulative — a piece does not have to get wet to be harmed by a summer in an uncooled room. If you are closing a house for the season, the art is usually the first thing that should leave.
The limit
Where we stop
We are not conservators and we do not clean, restore or re-frame. If a piece needs treatment before it travels we will say so and stop, rather than move it and hope.
Common questions
- Do you crate?
- Where the piece or the journey requires it. Most single-vehicle moves within Florida do not, and a crate is not automatically safer than careful soft-wrapping over a two-hour drive.
- Can you handle very large canvases?
- Up to what fits, safely, upright. Tell us the dimensions on the call — that is the constraint, more often than weight.
- Is the vault climate controlled?
- Yes, held to a controlled temperature and relative humidity continuously, which is a different thing from an air-conditioned room that is switched off at weekends.
- Do you provide valuations?
- No. We are not appraisers and we have no view on what a piece is worth. Bring your own valuation if coverage depends on it.
Statewide
Routes we run
45–75 min
Brickell & Downtown Miami
High-rise collections, which means the loading dock and the service elevator decide the schedule rather than the traffic. Most Brickell towers require a certificate of insurance filed with building management days in advance and will only release the service lift in a booked window — we handle that paperwork, but it is why a Brickell collection is booked a week out and a house is not.
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50–80 min
Coral Gables
Older single-family houses on narrow, banyan-shaded streets with strict tree and parking rules. A vehicle cannot always get close to the door, so a Gables collection is planned around where we can legally stand, and that is worth a phone call before the day rather than a surprise on it.
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50–80 min
Coconut Grove
A mix of waterfront estates and 1920s houses, several of them with art collections that have never been condition-reported. The Grove sits low, and clients here move things out ahead of the season more often than anywhere else in Miami-Dade.
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60–90 min
Key Biscayne
One causeway on and off the island, with a toll and a single point of failure. When a storm is forecast the Rickenbacker is exactly where everyone is at once, so Key Biscayne is the one market where we insist on booking well ahead of a cone rather than during it.
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45–75 min
Miami Beach & Surfside
Causeway-dependent and, from Surfside north, largely mid-rise condominium. Since 2021 the building-access rules here have tightened considerably, and management offices are noticeably more careful about who is allowed a service lift — expect to be asked for documentation that a house never requires.
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30–50 min
Aventura
Dense high-rise on the Dade line and the shortest big-building run we make. Loading docks here are generally well organised and bookable, which makes Aventura one of the few tower markets where a same-week collection is realistic.
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Tell us what needs to move.
What, from where, and roughly when. You do not need an inventory to start the conversation, and if the job belongs with an armored carrier we will say so on the call.