The theft of approximately $102 million worth of historic artifacts from the Louvre Museum in Paris provided a stunning example of the risks that major cultural institutions can face and the often limited insurance options available to cover financial losses.

The daytime heist on Sunday of tens of millions of dollars' worth of the French Crown Jewels from the most visited museum in the world highlighted the risks that many art collections face. That risk was only underscored by reports that the museum did not maintain private insurance coverage for the items.

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Regardless of whether a collection is private or public, the question of how to value an item can be a crucial sticking point even for collections that have a fine art policy in place.

Dennis Artese of Anderson Kill PC said that policyholders with fine art policies often provide carriers a schedule of items, which may be covered in full or subject to a blanket limit, telling Law360 that "valuation is probably always the trickiest part of this."

"If it's an item that can be replaced, you can get replacement cost coverage. But for these items, it's not typically something that can be replaced. They're unique, they're one of a kind, and so you have to come to some type of resolution based on the actual cash value," he added.

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