Art has historically provided the greatest intergenerational return of any asset class. In 2013, sales rose to a record high of $66 billion, largely due to the growth of art as an investment. The Artnet C50 Index, which combines performance data from 50 top contemporary and postwar artists, advanced 434 percent from the start of 2003 through last year, beating asset classes including gold, fine wine and stocks.
Investing in art is akin to what wealthy collectors having been doing for centuries– building and managing important collections. Art investments can focus upon art from a certain region, a specific medium, or a particular style and period. When collecting for investment, however, the aesthetic appreciation should be as important a consideration as the long-term financial worth.
Tod has single-handedly created international art market trends. His qualitative wisdom and four decades of experience with art market cycles enable him to foresee and utilize market opportunities. Being able to spot opportunities and turn a market reversal into a collector’s direct advantage will secure the investment and ensure substantial gains; this is the core vision and investing philosophy that has produced positive quantitative results time and again.
We hold a current portfolio of blue chip catalogue raisonné paintings from the greatest artists of the 19th and 20th century such as Jackson Pollock, Monet, John Singer Sargent, Andy Warhol, and Picasso. Our holdings extend to an array of Old Masters paintings, bronze statues and art nouveau decorative art.
Here are a few recent case studies that prove what is possible when art is used as an alternative investment:
- Rare jeweled dragonfly Tiffany Lamp: Purchased for 125,000 USD sold for 1,000,000 USD.
- Fernand Léger work on paper: Purchased for 125,000 USD sold for 275,000 USD within the same year.