Buying Art As An Investment

I am legally obligated to tell you I am not a financial

consultant and the following is only my opinion.

The first issue with art as an investment is, if this is

the only reason you're thinking about buying art, you're

better off buying real estate. You will not get rich by

investing in art. If you walk into an art gallery and you're

not interested in the artwork, the investment value doesn't

matter because the artwork doesn't matter to you.

Art pieces sold by established artists are indicative of

what the market is willing to bear. As an artist or work

gains acclaim the values increase and reflect the

appreciation found for the art.  As a general rule, i f

something is very inexpensive, selling for $12, $42 or $60 it

is a mass-market product, which is not going to appreciate

or hold in value. On the other hand, there are artists selling

for very reasonable values out of Great Britain, who do

stunning work in everything from serigraphs to etchings, at

prices starting around $350, signed and numbered!

If you're a person who is seriously considering

collecting art as an investment, the unequivocal statement is

'buy the original." But given the value of originals, it

really pays to spot an artist early in their career. By the

time an artist reaches the 40, to 60 thousand dollar retail

price they are out of the price range where many people can

afford to buy.

The thing to remember is reproductions, in and of

themselves, are great pieces and do go up in value. Though

there are limits to how much a reproduction will go up to in

value, even most Picasso reproductions do not sell for tens

of thousands of dollars.