Passing the Palette: A Family Office guide for preparing Collections for Smooth Intergenerational Transfer

John Jessen, Head of Business Development

TAs the largest wealth transfer in history begins, are your clients’ art and collectibles

ready to move seamlessly, securely, and strategically, to the next generation?

We are entering a new era of wealth succession. Over US$80 trillion is expected to pass

between generations by 2045 - and within that, a vast but often under-managed category

of value: fine art and collectibles.

According to a Deloitte Art & Finance Report, more than 60% of wealth managers now

include art in total wealth reporting. Meanwhile, the Art Basel & UBS Art Market Report

highlights a shift in mindset:

• Older generations prized connoisseurship and legacy.

• Younger collectors prioritise liquidity, transparency, and purpose – and they

also might have different tastes.

So how can family offices and collectors prepare their collections for smooth, data-

driven succession?

Here’s a practical checklist:

1. Start with a Digitised Inventory

Scattered PDFs and handwritten notes no longer suffice. Create a centralised digital

inventory with provenance documents, condition reports, and ownership details. It’s the

foundation for visibility, governance, and liquidity. Overstone’s large language models

parse unstructured data for you and once structured, our SaaS platform provides

collectors and their wealth managers with a centralized archive system for all individual

assets within a collection, all in one place, regardless of where physical assets and

collections are located. Our in-house team of specialists who have come from the likes

of Christie’s and Sotheby’s alike, conduct comprehensive due diligence and record

meticulous notes about their findings to be logged into your archives.

2. Move to Dynamic Valuations

Static appraisals quickly lose relevance. Both Deloitte and Art Basel note the rise of real-

time, data-led valuation models. While Overstone’s specialists, who are USPAP

certified, conduct the valuations, our AI tools created by our team of Data Scientists

generate liquidity scores and liquidity gradients as leading indicators to future changes in

value, while also generating, at scale, quarterly market-to-market re-valuations.

3. Align Insurance and Tax Structures

Outdated valuations can leave families underinsured or non-compliant. Regularly

updated appraisals should feed directly into insurance coverage, estate planning, and tax

optimisation. Overstone’s first of its kind partnership with Addepar, enables collectiondata from Overstone’s platform to be uploaded onto Addepar’s leading wealth reporting

platform, where all high-level data, including insurance premiums and renewal dates can

be seen at a glance. Clarity today prevents disputes tomorrow.

4. Consider Philanthropic and Purpose-Driven Vehicles

Next-gen collectors increasingly want their collections to create impact. Options

include charitable trusts, museum loans, and cultural foundations - aligning art with

family values while offering fiscal efficiency.

5. Build Governance for Continuity

Succession isn’t just about inheritance - it’s about stewardship. Define who decides

what, under what conditions, and how works can be sold, loaned, or donated.

Governance ensures continuity when leadership changes.

6. Art connects capital, culture, and continuity

By professionalising collection management - through data, governance, and foresight -

families can ensure that what one generation built for passion, the next can preserve with

purpose. With Overstone, the next generation can now unlock their collectibles as asset

classes. Art-backed financing can be raised without the need to liquidate collateralised

assets. Calculated transaction decision can be made as a result of being armed with

data. Concentration risk can be measured by category, jurisdiction and more.

At Overstone, we help family offices and collectors turn art into a structured,

transparent, and future-ready asset class.

Follow Overstone for more insights

on art finance, data intelligence, and collection strategy.

For a free one-hour consultation for Family Offices and PWMs,

please contact: John Jessen: jjessen@overstoneassociates.com