This is a must read article. Sometimes many forget about all the legal implications of an art sale, or resale.
Title Insurance Concept Spreads Into Art Sales:
“With its sale to Argo Group, the small insurance firm ARIS is aiming to make the purchase of title insurance standard in every major art sale.
The most obvious title disputes involve theft, and in the United States buyers who unwittingly obtain a stolen work often have to surrender it.
More commonly, though, ownership is muddy for more mundane reasons: an artwork may carry liens after being used as collateral for a loan, or a seller may not have full authority to sell the piece, as in a divorce.”
(Via NYT > Art & Design.)