While Gander and White fields requests from hundreds of collectors and galleries to handle their work, de Greling says the company tries not to overextend itself. ''You don't want to handle more than you can chew,'' he says. ``One shipper shouldn't handle 50 or 100 dealers. We're not in the business of volume.''

Yet if a major collector needs an entire collection moved, Gander and White handlers will mobilize. ''We'll send a crew to pack a house in Los Angeles, then send the same crew to New York to move them in,'' says de Greling.

Such service doesn't come cheaply. For each medium sized painting, the cost is about $1,000 for a domestic move. To ship internationally, it is $1,500 to get it to the port of call, then extra for import taxes and transport to the final destination.

SAFE STORAGE:

THE FORTRESS

AND MUSEO VAULT

The recent bubble in the art market has sent the value of artworks soaring. Paintings have appreciated overnight, turning even modest collections into multimillion-dollar assets that need serious protection. Yet even before the latest round of speculation, which may now be cooling off, many collectors were taking the business of storing and preserving their art seriously.

This is why The Fortress was erected 25 years ago on a vacant lot in downtown Miami. Built from concrete block, with a double layer of steel armor outside, the indestructible blue monolith was designed to withstand the most severe hurricanes. Inside the eight-story building, the atmosphere is maintained at a constant, art-friendly 72 to 74 degrees, with a 55 percent relative humidity. At night, guard dogs and armed security guards patrol the grounds.

Kimberly Jones, vice president and general manager, says The Fortress is currently the repository of choice for local collectors. ''When you're dealing with artwork and high value items, these clients are looking for peace of mind,'' she says.

One way The Fortress offers this sense of security is through low turnover among its eight-member staff. Jones has been there for 25 years. The Fortress has used the same janitor for 15 years. All but one employee have been working there for at least 10 years. ''When you're storing artwork, you don't want to see a new face at the desk every day,'' says Jones.

Another way of enhancing security is by making the stored art all but inaccessible to any would-be intruders. Instead of creating a warren of individual rooms for collectors, The Fortress rents out corrugated aluminum storage containers as large as 8-feet-tall by 17-feet-long. These are stacked high and brought down by six giant elevators to access areas, where collectors can add or remove pieces as desired. There are no names or inventories on the containers and no way to get to the units when they are stacked.

Andrew Cowan, a Scotland-based dealer who has several clients in Miami, said such services are essential to his work. ''Particularly bearing in mind the omnipresent risk of hurricanes and the problems presented by the Florida climate, I cannot imagine functioning in Miami in the art business without the facilities offered by The Fortress,'' he wrote in an e-mail message.

For all the security offered at The Fortress, rates are quite low. About 400 customers pay $150 a month for the smallest spaces, while the largest containers cost $600 a month.

Despite The Fortress's sturdy reputation, it will soon have some stiff competition. Not two miles away, Museo Vault, a sparkling new high-tech art storage facility, is opening its doors just in time for Art Basel Miami Beach. Developed by Miami's Lombardi Properties, the 86,000-square-foot Museo Vault will feature climate control and security features similar to those at The Fortress, with spaces renting for between $350 and $450 a month.

David Lombardi, the firm's principal, said the boom in private art collecting in Miami means he won't be competing so much as complementing offerings by The Fortress.

''The more I did market research, the more I realized there was room for another substantial player,'' says Lombardi.

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