Yesterday Christie's New York held its bi-annual Antiquities and Ancient Jewelry sales and today was the turn of Sotheby's NY for their bi-annual specialist auction. AS record prices continue to be achieved for exceptional antiquities perhaps it is time to get down to the practicalities of buying at auction.
The process of buying works like this. You register your personal details and interests with the auction house prior to the sale in which you are interested. The auction house runs a credit check to make sure you can pay for your purchases then activates an account for you.
Viewings are held the week before an auction where you may inspect the lots to be sold in person. Catalogues arepublished in printed form and on-line up to a month before the sale where you may begin to assess pieces which may be of potential interest.
Auction lots are sold to the highest bidder and this may be done in several ways, You may attend the auction in person where you will be given a paddle with your bidder number which you show clearly to the auctioneer when you are bidding. It is a myth that if you scratch your nose during an auction you will be committed to buying a $50,000,000 Picasso - Auctioners are not stupid!
Each auction catalogue also has an absentee bid form in the back. You may leave a written bid with the auctioneer prior to the sale if you cannot attend in person or send an agent such as myself to act on your behalf. Remember however, you are more likely to lose out to a bidder who can attend in person.
You may also register for a telephone bid which must be booked in advance of the sale. The auction house will call you two or three lots before the item/s in which you are interested and you can confirm your highest bid in person.
Remember, staff are very helpful and there to answer your questions within reason. Particulalry important when dealing with antiquities, you may ask for photographs and crucially, condition reports on any item before deciding to purchase.
Remember not to get carried away and bid more than is reasonable (the printed estimates in the catalogue are a useful guide to the value of an artwork), or more than you can afford.
This is the crucial trade secret- remember DEALERS BUY STOCK AT AUCTION! If you are a novice collector, this is no bad thing as it is an extra guarantee of authenticity and quality as the pieces you buy will have been assessed by auction house staff and the dealer. The downside is you would have got the item cheaper at auction than paying the dealers mark-up.
Remember, auctions are public sales - do not be put off by posh salerooms or intimidated by front of house staff or experts, they are there to help you.
A final crucial point regarding the auction process - whether buying or selling you will pay a commision to the auction house (currently 20-25% of the hammer price) plus VAT, storage and delivery charges so remember your budget must take account of these extra charges.
Happy hunting, but be warned - the auction houses cannot always be releid upon to spot the forgeries and the dud's. Think very carefully before investing your hard earned cash!
Canopus
Showing posts with label investment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label investment. Show all posts
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
Sunday, 30 November 2008
Why not Contemporary Art?
This might seem a bit of a sideline off the main topic, but in persuading you that ancient art is the best investment, you may be asking yourself why everyone is caught up with contemporary art at present?
According to Forbes Magazine, Legendary Hedge Fund Manager Michael Steinhardt 'recognised the value' of antiquities and assembled one of the world's biggest collections. Now the biggest is not necessarily the best and I hope he took sensible advice on which antiquities to buy.
Similarly, when the British Rail Pension Fund decided to nivest part of their portfolio in the Art Market, they stuck with tried and tested markets, namely Old Master Paintings and Antiquities. They did not rush into the purchase of contemporary art.
Charles Saatchi has been instrumental in persuading the UK art market that contemporary is not just fashionalbe, but also a good investment. However, unless you have the influence to buy up entire degree shows and manufacture the next Banksy, it will always remain a risk.
In a recent discussion with a member of Tate's board who decide on purchases I learn't that even museums are trying to second guess who the next big artist will be. Unfortunately they are spending their collections budgets on unknown artists, then getting lumbered with worthless artworks as the artists career nosedives and they dont have a disposal policy that allows them to get shot of the works.
This is not a diatribe against the Tate however, but a warning that even arts professionals cannot reliably control such an amorphous beast as the art market. In 2004, the Arts Council commissioned a report to find out why more people do not invest in contemporary art. The report, 'Taste Buds' by Morris Hargreaves Mcintyre found that even high net worth individuals are intimidated by the dealer system and confused by the scale of the contemporary market.
If you are a novice and wnat to know what makes a good investment I would say this. Contemporary art does exactly what it says on the tin. A Banksy may cost you £20,000 at auction today but when he's no longer fashionable he may be worth £20.00. That's not to say it will definitely happen, but its a frightening possibility.
Of course If you are a museum curator playing with tax payers money or donations from wealthy patrons, you can afford to take the risk. After all you won't go to prison for a bad investment. Smuggle antiquities out of a source country and you can at least expected to be arrested at gunpoint when reentering the country
I will get to the ethical and legal considerations shortly, but first let me just say there is something magical about holding a complete predynastic pottery vessel that still shows the fingerprints from when the clay was wet during the manufacture that has survived for five thousand years or more.
If Egyptian antiquities were collected by Roman emperors and we have based our civilization, not to mention our art on Classical traditions, I think it is fair to say this is at least a tried and tested accepted standard of aesthetic beauty that is unlikely to become unfashionable any time soon.
As a rule of thumb, on average antiquities rise 10% in value every year and double in value every ten years. This is of course for significant artworks. Buy a scarab from a dealer and you are paying retail price against wholesale auction price so it is unlikely to ever be worth what you paid for it.
I like and admire Banksy's work (the streat cleaner steaming the cave paintings off the walls is my favourite) and even some of Damien Hirst's art I find quite interesting but if I have to put my money where my mouth is I will still choose a classical statue or Egyptian relief any day of the week.
According to Forbes Magazine, Legendary Hedge Fund Manager Michael Steinhardt 'recognised the value' of antiquities and assembled one of the world's biggest collections. Now the biggest is not necessarily the best and I hope he took sensible advice on which antiquities to buy.
Similarly, when the British Rail Pension Fund decided to nivest part of their portfolio in the Art Market, they stuck with tried and tested markets, namely Old Master Paintings and Antiquities. They did not rush into the purchase of contemporary art.
Charles Saatchi has been instrumental in persuading the UK art market that contemporary is not just fashionalbe, but also a good investment. However, unless you have the influence to buy up entire degree shows and manufacture the next Banksy, it will always remain a risk.
In a recent discussion with a member of Tate's board who decide on purchases I learn't that even museums are trying to second guess who the next big artist will be. Unfortunately they are spending their collections budgets on unknown artists, then getting lumbered with worthless artworks as the artists career nosedives and they dont have a disposal policy that allows them to get shot of the works.
This is not a diatribe against the Tate however, but a warning that even arts professionals cannot reliably control such an amorphous beast as the art market. In 2004, the Arts Council commissioned a report to find out why more people do not invest in contemporary art. The report, 'Taste Buds' by Morris Hargreaves Mcintyre found that even high net worth individuals are intimidated by the dealer system and confused by the scale of the contemporary market.
If you are a novice and wnat to know what makes a good investment I would say this. Contemporary art does exactly what it says on the tin. A Banksy may cost you £20,000 at auction today but when he's no longer fashionable he may be worth £20.00. That's not to say it will definitely happen, but its a frightening possibility.
Of course If you are a museum curator playing with tax payers money or donations from wealthy patrons, you can afford to take the risk. After all you won't go to prison for a bad investment. Smuggle antiquities out of a source country and you can at least expected to be arrested at gunpoint when reentering the country
I will get to the ethical and legal considerations shortly, but first let me just say there is something magical about holding a complete predynastic pottery vessel that still shows the fingerprints from when the clay was wet during the manufacture that has survived for five thousand years or more.
If Egyptian antiquities were collected by Roman emperors and we have based our civilization, not to mention our art on Classical traditions, I think it is fair to say this is at least a tried and tested accepted standard of aesthetic beauty that is unlikely to become unfashionable any time soon.
As a rule of thumb, on average antiquities rise 10% in value every year and double in value every ten years. This is of course for significant artworks. Buy a scarab from a dealer and you are paying retail price against wholesale auction price so it is unlikely to ever be worth what you paid for it.
I like and admire Banksy's work (the streat cleaner steaming the cave paintings off the walls is my favourite) and even some of Damien Hirst's art I find quite interesting but if I have to put my money where my mouth is I will still choose a classical statue or Egyptian relief any day of the week.
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Introduction to the ancient art market
It constantly amazes me that high net worth individuals will pick over contracts with a fine tooth comb when it comes to buying a house, car or anything else the general public has an awareness of. Yet when it comes to investing in the art market, particularly the ancient art market, known to be plagued with forgeries and low grade tat, they trust their 'instincts'.
You want proof - I recently met an American collector and casually asked him who he took advice from when buying antiquities. His answer - "I've been collecting for thirty years - I don't need advice from anybody"!
Now, you have to be supicious of anyone who doesn't take advice right! Bearing in mind that Bolton City Council and the Art Fund funded the purchase of the Greenhalgh 'Nefertiti' (a poor copy of the Louvre sandstone Nefertiti with way too big hips, even for the Amarna period) and the British Museum were prepared to take on face value that the same family, living on a council estate in the north of England had also 'inherited' Assyrian reliefs from the palaces of Nineveh, we all need to consult other authorities occasionally.
An honest appraisal of the pitfalls of the antiquities market is provided by Helios Gallery, a respectabl member of the Antiquities Dealers Association (ADA) in their e-Bay guide to collecting antiquities. "We all get caught out sometimes" - its the nature of the beast.
If you are new to the market in antiquities, I will be happy to share what I know about UK and international laws and the ethics of collecting Cultural Goods. I will happily point out the controversial nature of the trade and not hide the vocal opposition amongst the academic archaeological community. Collectors and investors should, after all be fully aware of the issues surrounding the market before getting involved.
To conclude - The place to start in order to get an overview of the current market is Minerva Magazine: The International Review of Ancient Art and Archaeology http://www.minervamagazine.com/, but be aware it is owned and run by the owner's of Royal Athena Galleries/Seaby, major players in the ancient art trade. This is no bad thing, but you should be aware of this interest. The standard book on the subject is Collecting Antiquities: "An Introductory Guide" by Charles Ede, one of the leading London dealers. Now rather outdated it is still a good all round introduction and there has been nothing to replace it yet.
Also, and this may not be immediately obvious, but visit as many museums and exhibitions and read as widely as possible in order to familairise yourself not just with the market, but with antiquity in general. Unlike our American cousin, the more you know, the better you will be able to evaluate the potential of an antiquity for purchase/investment.
There are a lot of fakes out there and we will conclude by suggesting you stay well clear of e-Bay until you know your market, although it is a useful resource for cheap reference books to help you develop your knowledge. A trade secret - Invaluable is just what it says. Current and archived auction lots are available for research at http://www.invaluable.com/ but you must be serious enough to subscribe to make full use of this invaluable research tool no matter what your area of interest.
If you must venture into e-Bay territory, the only advice I can give at this stage is initially look to dealers who are independently established and recognised by the trade through membership of a regulatory body. I do not wan't to give the impression I am somehow promoting one dealer, but Helios Gallery comes to mind as they have been around a fair while, provide antiquities of interest to the lower end of the market and first time collectors, are members of the ADA and sell on e-Bay. http://www.heliosgallery.com/.
I will begin to reccomend other markets and galleries in my next blog.
Canopus
You want proof - I recently met an American collector and casually asked him who he took advice from when buying antiquities. His answer - "I've been collecting for thirty years - I don't need advice from anybody"!
Now, you have to be supicious of anyone who doesn't take advice right! Bearing in mind that Bolton City Council and the Art Fund funded the purchase of the Greenhalgh 'Nefertiti' (a poor copy of the Louvre sandstone Nefertiti with way too big hips, even for the Amarna period) and the British Museum were prepared to take on face value that the same family, living on a council estate in the north of England had also 'inherited' Assyrian reliefs from the palaces of Nineveh, we all need to consult other authorities occasionally.
An honest appraisal of the pitfalls of the antiquities market is provided by Helios Gallery, a respectabl member of the Antiquities Dealers Association (ADA) in their e-Bay guide to collecting antiquities. "We all get caught out sometimes" - its the nature of the beast.
If you are new to the market in antiquities, I will be happy to share what I know about UK and international laws and the ethics of collecting Cultural Goods. I will happily point out the controversial nature of the trade and not hide the vocal opposition amongst the academic archaeological community. Collectors and investors should, after all be fully aware of the issues surrounding the market before getting involved.
To conclude - The place to start in order to get an overview of the current market is Minerva Magazine: The International Review of Ancient Art and Archaeology http://www.minervamagazine.com/, but be aware it is owned and run by the owner's of Royal Athena Galleries/Seaby, major players in the ancient art trade. This is no bad thing, but you should be aware of this interest. The standard book on the subject is Collecting Antiquities: "An Introductory Guide" by Charles Ede, one of the leading London dealers. Now rather outdated it is still a good all round introduction and there has been nothing to replace it yet.
Also, and this may not be immediately obvious, but visit as many museums and exhibitions and read as widely as possible in order to familairise yourself not just with the market, but with antiquity in general. Unlike our American cousin, the more you know, the better you will be able to evaluate the potential of an antiquity for purchase/investment.
There are a lot of fakes out there and we will conclude by suggesting you stay well clear of e-Bay until you know your market, although it is a useful resource for cheap reference books to help you develop your knowledge. A trade secret - Invaluable is just what it says. Current and archived auction lots are available for research at http://www.invaluable.com/ but you must be serious enough to subscribe to make full use of this invaluable research tool no matter what your area of interest.
If you must venture into e-Bay territory, the only advice I can give at this stage is initially look to dealers who are independently established and recognised by the trade through membership of a regulatory body. I do not wan't to give the impression I am somehow promoting one dealer, but Helios Gallery comes to mind as they have been around a fair while, provide antiquities of interest to the lower end of the market and first time collectors, are members of the ADA and sell on e-Bay. http://www.heliosgallery.com/.
I will begin to reccomend other markets and galleries in my next blog.
Canopus
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