Value in the Old Masters

Like the dot.com mania which provided speculative fuel that accelerated the blowing of the NASDAQ bubble by what seemed like 2000 light-years/hour, Contemporary bull fever was highly infectious amonst art investors this past couple of years.    

But as financial markets around the world soften, Youth and Growth are once again, making way for The Old and Value to return. Art markets too, are not exempted from the natural law: What goes up, must come down.

This Back to the Past phenomenon is evinced by comparing last week’s auction results  for the Old Masters Sales and that of last month’s Contemporary Sales at Sotheby’s and Christie’s.

@ SOTHEBY’S:

Date 09	Auction	Total Sale (₤)	Top Lot (₤) / Lot No.
8 July	Old Masters Paintings (Evening)	26m	4.6m / Lot 13
25 June	Contemporary (Evening)	25m	3.7m / Lot 14

Top lot at Sotheby’s Old Masters sale was Peter Brueghel The Young‘s Massacre of The Innocents,which sold for ₤4.6m, outperforming the high estimate by ₤1.1m

 @ CHRISTIE’S:

Date 09	Auction	Total Sale (₤)	Top Lot (₤) / Lot No.
7 July	Old Masters & 19th Century Art (Evening)	20m	2.1m / Lot 15
30 June	Post-War & Contemporary (Evening)	19m	3m / Lot 13

 Top lot: Baccio della Porta, called Fra Bartolommeo‘s The Madonna & Child in a landscape with Saint Elizabeth & the Infant Saint. John the Baptist

19th Century Art was included at the Old Masters auction

Total Sales of ₤20m was above the low estimate of ₤15.5m

48 of 63 lots sold, with 76% sell-out rate (10% improvement in recent years)  

sold-by-value rate of 91%

 

Both auction houses have reportedly been having difficulty sourcing for good quality Contemporary art works, hence reducing the pre-sale price estimates. 

Contemporary Art collectors themselves are not in a hurry to liquidate their current quality holdings, especially since prices look a tad depressed at the moment. The dearth in quality contemporary looks set to be continued.

And since prices could be fortified by the fact that Old Masters sales regularly produce prices far in excess of estimates as dealers pitch their knowledge against the salerooms, perhaps it is time to redirect investments from the quest for the Fountain of Youth, back to the Old Kingdom?

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 thangdynasty is a work-in-progress maintained by an accidental equity trader whose brief foray into the world of investments turned out… not so brief. Although unmotivated by the senseless pursuit of money in and for itself, she remains sadistically intrigued by the complex anatomy stealthily at work behind the whole spectrum of Markets – Fine Art, Financial, Fish and Fools. A budding art collector and supporter of emerging artists, she slogs to prevent collateral damage to her bank account resulting from occasional manic art buying sprees.

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