Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Art Investing 101
I can give you tons of tips for buying jewelry, watches and handbags, but I am no expert in art. Don't get me wrong--I love looking at art, and I know what I like, but sometimes it's better to get advice from someone with a bit more expertise. That's why I wanted to direct you to a great piece on Luxist called Ten Tips for Investing in Art.
Here's what author Tom Johansmeyer has to say in his intro:
If you put any faith in conventional wisdom, the best time to invest is when the market is at the bottom. So, there's no time like the present to put some cash into the fine art asset class. Hey, what passes for a solid performance these days is more than 70 percent off last year's levels. Before you invest anywhere, it pays (sometimes literally) to do your homework, and this is especially true with the art market. A fourth grade math education equips you to watch a stock prices ups and downs – and it is supplemented by what we pick up on the nightly news and (I hope) on the likes of BloggingStocks and DailyFinance.
Art, however, is different.
To understand this market, you're staring down the task of learning thousands of years of product history, in addition to a relatively illiquid marketplace in which prevailing tastes play a major role. You can carve this mammoth amount of information into smaller pieces, but you still need to identify a starting place. It's easy to get intimidated ... and also unnecessary. Take a look at the 10 tips below to make the art market a bit more accessible.
Definitely head over to read the piece in its entirety. Then, head over to Portero's art section that contains everything from Picasso to Warhol. There are definitely some great investment pieces available!