Bold Monitoring Protection For Artworks

With more than 700,000 artworks, antiques and collectibles currently listed on the Art Loss Register database as lost or stolen, this is clearly a lucrative area for criminal gangs. It is estimated that, each year, up to £200m worth of stolen objects are sold in the UK, the second largest art market in the world.

Keeping them safe from thieves, items which are often unique and irreplaceable, while making them publicly accessible is a specialist task requiring a range of skills and tools. Bold monitoring software is widely used to help protect sites where valuable objects are stored or on display. Bold Gemini integrates intruder, fire, CCTV and access control to ensure that malign activity is quickly detected, validated and the appropriate response taken. New technology is constantly being deployed as attacks become more determined and sophisticated. This includes adding new security solutions to the Bold platform and integrating them at the management software level.

A technology solution recently added to the Bold platform is from the UK company, Fortecho Solutions. Specialising in active RFID for security and environmental monitoring of rare and valuable objects, Fortecho is deployed in hundreds of museums and galleries as well as private residences. Their form-specific multifunctional electronic tags are compact, easy to fit and invisible to create the best possible viewer experience. Monitored parameters including motion, proximity, tamper, pressure, vibration, temperature, relative humidity and lux can be reported up to 2,880 times per day providing complete protection 24/7.

Security alerts from the Fortecho solution are presented and handled in the Bold Gemini software in the same format as other alarm and CCTV types, providing a seamless and automated solution for integrated control rooms. In an environment like a gallery where rare and valuable objects are at risk, each layer of security should interact with each other layer. Gemini provides an essential tool to facilitate that interaction and leave nothing to chance.