Archive for the 'investment' Category
Deflation in the Antiques Trade
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010The “go-go” years of the antiques trade in the 1980s relished the economy’s inflationary bias. The effect on prices for these objects was devastating, in a good way. Prices, like homes values prior to the present “Great Recession” had no where to go but up, up, up. As long as I can […]
The First Place to Go For Industry Change
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010Sometime you have to look at the gift horse and wonder why and where did you come from? For the art and antiques trade, the recently passed American financial reform legislation has many intriguing possibilities. By creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the legislation would allow this government sanctioned agency to oversee some […]
Where Do We Go From Here?
Saturday, July 17th, 2010The (hot) summer of 2010 is upon us in New York City, but telling the temperature in the art and antiques business is a bit more problematic. After the universal effects of “The Great Recession”, are things improving, getting worse, or still evolving from its traumatic consequences? Change in this industry is more than […]
Are The Decorative Arts Losing Their Appeal?
Thursday, June 10th, 2010It seems that the art world has experienced a roller coaster period of demand and price fluctuation. Some areas seem to be recovering quite nicely, as Picasso and Giacometti works can attest too. With the decorative arts, the rebound can be characterized as not happening. Demand is not even static, but appears […]
A Legal Indictment Against the Duopoly
Saturday, May 29th, 2010My faith in the legal process may yet be tested. My son, a law student, sent me an article in the New York State Bar Association’s Entertainment, Art, and Sports Journal-Spring 2010 edition titled: The House Always Wins: A Call to Reform Art Auction House Regulations. It was submitted and written by a 3rd […]
Prices and Pricing of Antiques, of Anything
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010I have always been a strong advocate of disclosed prices in the art and antiques industry. The fear of disclosing an asking price is nothing less than a secret reserve price. It creates a setting for being deceived and manipulated before you even make an inquiry about the item. As a method […]
Is Business In The Trade Going to Come Back Now?
Friday, April 2nd, 2010While I absolutely love macro-economic theory, I deal in a micro-economic business. The decorative arts industry has only recently, with the effects of the recent “Great Recession”, experienced a significant financial shock from this general economic condition. Perhaps the Great Depression is the only measure of a true economic cataclysm, but the awareness […]
Auction Draught; Dealers Rummage Around
Saturday, February 27th, 2010As bad as antiques dealers have fallen, so has the entire auction part of the trade. As I looked over at my group of upcoming Sotheby’s and Christie’s decorative arts sales catalogues, I had to pause at the thin volume and quality of inventory coming onto the market. I have three current (thin) […]
Hoping For the Best, Antique Furniture
Saturday, February 13th, 2010In the commercial world of decorative and fine arts, the present economic environment has been tough on many areas of the industry, but especially hard on furniture. Is it price, design, or is it not minimalist enough? As one esteemed dealer at the Winter Antiques show lamented to me, was this “English furniture’s […]
Industry Evolution
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010I start 2010 with the anticipation that it will be better than the previous year. After reading Niall Ferguson’s book, The Ascent of Money, the road to riches over time has evolved quite dramatically in form and format. So as I look ahead, where have antiques and art come from and fit into the […]