Biographical Information
Cruise Bruise Fine Art Expert
Teri Franks
Teri Franks
Owner - Fine Art Registry
Cruise Bruise Fine Art Expert
Biography
July 19, 2010
In 2000, Teri Franks, founder and CEO of Fine Art Registry® and herself a serious art collector, sent two pieces of fine art to France for evaluation by recognized industry experts. It occurred to her that if something happened to these works of art while abroad, no one would ever know that they were hers—that if lost or stolen—she would never see them again. Necessity is truly the mother of invention.
Teri started searching for a company or web sites that offered registration of art work, valuables, and cultural objects—an entity where she could permanently record ownership and/or title of ownership, especially for insurance purposes. She found nothing that was functional and cost effective. However, in her research she came across the J. Paul Getty Foundation's 1993 initiative which was to become Object-ID.
In 1993 the Getty Information Institute initiated a collaborative project to develop an international documentation standard for the information needed to identify cultural objects. The new standard has been developed in collaboration with police forces, customs agencies, museums, the art trade, valuers, and the insurance industry. In 1997 this initiative resulted in the Object ID checklist, which is a checklist of information needed to identify an art object. The last item on this checklist is: "Keep It Secure--having documented the object, keep this information in a secure place."
Teri went further to improve upon the Getty’s core standard. She invented and patented a system and method of tagging art objects and developed Fine Art Registry which is an online permanent art registry where any art object or valuable can be registered, ownership transfer can be recorded, theft or loss can be noted, and other important functions with regard to ownership and provenance of art objects can be safely stored in an online, publicly accessible worldwide database.
Thus Fine Art Registry developed and implemented the ultimate solution for the last step of the Object ID checklist: "Keep it Secure."
Today with members worldwide, Fine Art Registry® provides a unique, patented, high technology tagging and registration system for artists, collectors, galleries and museums, to help ensure authenticity and provide accurate provenance for works of art and all valuable objects. The Fine Art Registry system also helps prevent art fraud and art crime and also deters theft.
Since its inception, Fine Art Registry or FAR® has become a worldwide leader in fine art advocacy and education for the prevention of abuses in the art industry, including fraud, fakery, and theft. FAR has set new standards in the industry for the identification of art objects and valuables and has assisted many visual artists in protecting their body of work and their intellectual property rights. FAR strongly advocates for artists, collectors, galleries, and all art enthusiasts. Through education much of the fraud and fakery that goes on in the unregulated art industry can be prevented or at the very least deterred.
Teri’s background includes more than 20 years as a Senior Litigation Paralegal for various law firms in Phoenix, Arizona, specializing in insurance defense, contracts, intellectual property, trademarks and patents, construction litigation and more. Teri has recorded Continuing Legal Education courses for lawyers related to art law. She also actively consults with numerous law firms, and other industry professionals, including law enforcement in the area of art fraud and art crime.
Teri is a prolific writer, an artist, as well as and an avid collector of fine art, sculpture and exceptional historical items including rare books and manuscripts, scarce photographic material, especially from the American Civil War era. She has contributed rare Civil War Confederate archives to institutions around the U.S., such as University of Notre Dame, Hesburgh Library, and has recently contributed to an important collection at Columbia University.
Teri also has extensive experience in ‘live’ auction practices, having attended and participated in a wide variety of auctions over the last 30 years including multi-million dollar horse auctions to important collector car auctions as well as many fine art and historical auctions. In addition, she has a keen understanding and much experience with the cyber-online auction arena and the pitfalls associated therewith.
Teri Franks and Fine Art Registry have been featured in many media outlets, including the “New York Times”, “The New Yorker”, “Chubb Collectors Magazine”, “The Artist Magazine”, “Inside Edition”, “Art Newspaper” and many more.
Specialties:
Art Fraud and Art Crime Investigations and consulting, including forensics.
Consultation, education and advocacy services of all kinds for artists, collectors, galleries, art professionals, institutions, and other art enthusiasts.
Consultation, education, and expert litigation support services to law firms and industry professionals.
Permanent registration of fine art and valuables—conceived, developed and patented the FAR® identification and tagging technology. Drafted and authored all Patent claims. Teri Franks currently holds four U.S. Patents on the Fine Art Registry® system, database and method.
