Both fascinating and illogical is the propensity of the public to spend from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars on depreciating assets such as TV's and cars while resisting the purchase of quality artifacts that are both desirable and consistently appreciating assets.

First and foremost, purchase art that compels you to buy it. Art of all types bring quiet pleasure. A home graced with original one of a kind or limited edition art reflects the taste and sophistication of its owner. It is there not to impress, but to savor for original art never bores.

To invest in art, however, it is of clear advantage to read pertinent literature as well as to visit museums and galleries so as to better evaluate the current value of artifacts in areas of your interest. If you do not do this you are investing blindly, an unnecessary disadvatage.

Just keep in mind that a particular artwork you purchase may or may not accrue value with the passage of time. Some may lose value, some do not grow in financial value, others achieve modest gains and still others provide exceptional returns. Even if you are an astute and wealthy collector and can purchase items having a track record of rapidly increasing value, there is no way to be certain what the value of any particular artwork will be in the future. You are basing your purchase on a record of growth and will probably be correct, but you cannot be certain.

Another factor to consider is that art and collections are susceptible to the financial impact of economic cycles. When cash is short, it is king; there is less buying due to a decrease in the number of buyers and more sellers due to sudden pressing requirements for cash.

Another potential difficulty is that art has always been considered to be poorly fungible; easy to put your money in, hard to get it out - particularly for individuals. This, however, has turned around. The world wide web now presents even the smallest player with a huge and growing marketplace. Times have changed.

In the light of these cautionary considerations, can art ever be considered an investment? Unequivocally the answer is yes. But remember, long term, quality and strength win out over glitz and promotion. One hears the term 'speculating" in art. But unless you are a professional dealer, gallery owner, or appraiser who can very closely follow trends and fads, or can manipulate demand, speculation in art is as dangerous as speculating in the stock market and is a non-starter. For example, check out the "favored artists" in artnet.com. These are artists praised and paid for by galleries, but would you want their works in your home? These are indeed "private placements" put forward by galleries trying to cash in on their inventories. Unproven startups backed by seed capital. In fact, if you are considering the purchase of art, in part as an investment, note how well a financially sound art porfolio parallels a financially sound stock portfolio.

Art is a long term investment. But which form of art is best to purchase and which artist is best to collect? Again, this is an unknown and again the answer to this question has been provided by the stock market. The safest way to invest in the market for long term growth is in mutual funds. Some issues collapse in value, some grow and others soar - for safety you diversify. Assuming an excellent 10%/year ROI in the stock market for 30 years (from age 35 to age 65 for example), every $1,000 will grow to almost $17,500, a $100,000 investment will provide a tidy gross retirement package of about $1,750,000 (NBT $1,650,000).

Now let's look at the return one might expect from a "mutual fund" investment in art. Let's look at some of the items offered in this site that have been extant for more than 30 years - African, Ceramics, Ancestor figures, Pre-Columbian, Early American and Collectibles.

1974                      2004