Georgina Adam gets to the heart of the problems created by the volcanic ash floating over Northern Europe for the art market. Some dealers and auction houses reported slow traffic and reduced participation from the travel restrictions. But the real problem is the way art handling has been halted:

According to the leading art shippers Gander and White, “business ground to a halt”. Even with the resumption of flights, things will take a long time to get back to normal; the firm’s managing director Oliver Howell told me: “All the flights are full and the airlines are not accepting freight until further notice. I don’t see any change soon; the backlog is huge.” He said he knew of dealers who had lost sales because they could not get works of art to prospective clients.

The Art Market: Fall-Out from the Volcano (Financial Times)