As a collector, you know the joy of discovery is exceeded only by the joy of acquisition. This is true whether your passion runs to paintings and prints, Modernist furniture, vintage jewelry, porcelain, Native American blankets or any of a hundred other categories. The satisfaction you get from owning and displaying your heart's interest is priceless.
The issue now is how the world's economy is impacting your investment. The experts we asked were all very positive about the state of the market and the statistics back them up.
Collecting Experts Put Market in Focus.
Isadore M. Chait, Founder and President of I.M. Chait Gallery/Auctioneers in Beverly Hills, has been the leader in Asian Arts and Chinese Porcelains for more than 40 years. At the request of clients, his firm has expanded into the arena of Natural History – exotic items like fossils and geodes from the earth's crust and, in some cases, meteorites from earth's atmosphere. The firm has also developed specialties in fine jewelry and art. Chait has witnessed several downturns in the market and each time the outcome has been the same.
When the economy stalled in 1991, Chait was asked his opinion of the art market by the Financial News Network. He repeated a statement he had made in the 1980s, during that decade's economic meltdown. Recently, Chait reiterated those words. "Regardless of economic fluctuations, recessions and inflations, there is one area of investment that continues to prosper. Whatever condition the world may be in, there will always be lovers of art and people will never stop their fascination with artifacts and artistry from ancient cultures."
Bill Rau, of Rau Antiques, a New Orleans landmark for almost a century with clients the world over, held a similar point of view.
"History," he wrote in a recent email, "has shown that when stock markets fall, art and antiques have typically performed quite well."
Statistics Reflect Market Strength.
The Antiques Collector's Club, which has tracked antique furniture prices and published them annually since 1968 in the Antiques Furniture Price Index (AFPI), provided statistics that support Rau's view. According to the AFPI, antique furniture has outperformed both the stock market and home values for the past 30 years.
In 2007, ArtAndAntiques.com, the online resource for antiques, art, artists and art collectors in America, said that overall the art market had gained 20% compared to the S&P 500's more modest increase of 5.5%.
Elaine Banks-Stainton, Executive Vice President of Paintings at Doyle New York, a highly respected mid-range auction gallery, also felt that the art market is solid. Banks qualified this to exclude the very high end of contemporary paintings, an area that has been over-hyped and over-priced for several years. However, paintings by respected artists, American and European, she said, are holding steady.
Resources Inform Your Collecting Decisions.
Ultimately it all comes down to supply and demand. Most of the items that hold value simply aren't being made anymore. The rarer they become, the more desirable.
So, where does this leave you, the collector? Should you worry? Rush to buy or rush to sell? Fortunately, with the Internet at your fingertips and a subscription to artnet.com or artprice.com, both of which maintain databases on value, you can access the resources you need to make your decisions.
