Wednesday, November 23, 2011

How to Invest in Fine Art and a Build Collection or Portfolio

At a time when we are in or some may say coming out of a nasty recession. Interest rates are at rock bottom. The Bank of England Base Rate at 0.5% and the interest rates are roughly the same all around the world. Getting a return on your money is not easy; however you can still Invest your money in some areas and get a good return. One of these is art, it is a vast area and there is something for everyone's taste and you will not find many investments that you can hang on your wall enjoy and improve the look of a room. If selling your home it has been found that people are influenced by the removable goods, so art on your walls can even help raise the sale price of your home or make it sell faster. So Investing in art offers much more than a return on your investment it can benefit many areas of your life

Most people think that to invest in art you need a large amount of capital but that is not the case. You will find out how you can start an art collection with a small sum of money. Whether you are looking to invest a small amount of one to two hundred pounds or thousands there are a few simple rules to follow. That is what we will talk about in this article so that you can start to build your own portfolio of art, investing in your future.

The Art Markets

According to the Art Market Research (AMR) the price of old masters achieved a peek in 1990 and has now passed this high after a strong rise in the previous year. The index for modern paintings is 15% off its peak, contemporary and 19th century is 50% below its peak. The impressionist market is much more volatile and is nearly 70% off the highs seen in the 1990's. You should bear in mind impressionist prices are higher than other styles in the same periods.

A Study in 1952 by Mei and Moses led to an amazing discovery, "The more you pay, the lower your return." This was shown more with purchases over £29,000. Purchases over £ 1,160,000 actually show a negative return on your investment. For most people wanting to start an art collection for investment it is advisable to look at emerging art markets. This as an exciting market which offers the opportunity of the larger returns on your investment

How to buy art.

The death of an artist does not guarantee an increase in value.

It is a common belief that after the death of an artist the value of the work will increase. This is not necessarily true even for established artists who commended high prices during their lifetime. An example of this is Andy Warhol, he produced iconic art which he then began to copy himself. After his death his heirs released piece after piece to the market. This led to a devaluation of his work over the coming decades. The other side of the coin is artists who were never really had their work recognised, after their death the art does not increase in value.

The answer to this is to do your research about an artist. Has their work been recognised by any institutions, won competitions and what reviews have been written by other people. Research does not guarantee a good purchase but it can help reduce the risk. Access to the internet makes research much easier in today's day and age.

Prints or Originals

Some people say stick to buying originals and that is sometimes the best option. But as we so often hear there is an exception to every rule. If you purchase a print which is not a limited edition you are definitely throwing money away. All you are doing is buying an expensive poster. This can be seen in many places where you can purchase a print of most masterpieces. They are usually mass produced, unsigned and printed on cheap paper. If you come across an artist whose work is increasing in value, you have researched them and the artist looks like they are worth investing in. It may be you cannot afford an original painting by the artist, so you look at prints.

First you need to look at the quality of the prints, most artist use Giclee prints which are high quality and on a high grade of paper. If you see a limited edition print on shiny poster paper, stay well away and save your money.

The next important thing to check is the edition size. The lower the run size the better the investment. Some artists do runs up to a thousand per edition, this is a sign that the value of that print will be low and is highly unlikely to increase in value. A limited edition of one hundred will mean each print is more likely to hold their value.

Validated Prints, this is an obvious point but is something that should be checked. All limited edition prints should be numbered and signed by the artist. The number should say what the print number is and how many copies are going to be printed in the limited edition print run e.g. 1/100. When you look for art work you may see an up and coming artist who has just released a limited edition print, it is sometimes worth purchasing limited edition prints in this situation because you can see returns of 50-100%

Buy What You Like.

Like most investments there are no guarantees, the value may go up, it may also go down. However unlike other investments you should always gain some enjoyment out of your investment. So the first and foremost decision to be made when considering buying any painting is, do you like it? If you like it is highly likely that other people will like it. If your investment is going on the wall you are going to be looking it so you should make sure you are going to get some pleasure from it, there would be nothing worse than having a painting that you cannot stand the site of. This might seem an obvious point but it is an important one that should not be overlooked. I sell art and when I look at an artist's work with the view of selling it I will only accept art to promote that I like, for me it is such an important guideline when you look at any piece of art.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

How to Purchase Original Paintings And Other Fine Art Online

Original paintings can dramatically transform your home and office into a place of welcome, intrigue, or even surprise. Paintings that reflect your own personal sense of style can introduce unique beauty, culture, and comfort into the rooms in which you live your life.

In the past, it was typically necessary for a customer to visit numerous brick-and-mortar galleries to find a style and artist that resonated with that buyer's needs and preferences. Often, the cost of such gallery-represented original paintings proves prohibitive for prospective purchasers.

Today, with the explosive growth of Internet sales, it is easy to comparison-shop to determine preferred styles, preferred artists, and to find favorite original paintings. Customers can more easily discover tremendous new and up-and-coming artists, who may or may not yet enjoy traditional gallery representation. The Internet option greatly broadens a customer's choices.

Perhaps best of all, the Internet has helped make original fine art and paintings financially accessible to most homeowners, employers, apartment-dwellers, and even college students, who can now enjoy purchasing exceptional original paintings -- often by undiscovered artisans -- at wonderfully affordable prices.

Novica hosts what may be the largest online gallery of original paintings in the world. Novica features thousands of original and limited-edition oil paintings, acrylic paintings, mixed-media paintings, and original photography by hundreds of well-known and unknown artists in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

A Google-search for "original paintings" likewise leads to more than a million website links to online galleries and personal home pages for countless famous and undiscovered fine artists around the globe.