Taste is the ultimate example of subjectiveness. Each person’s taste is uniquely their own, and yet, most people have trouble articulating their tastes when it comes to art and decor. You may work with an interior designer to help synthesize your taste into the choices you make with home furnishings. Similarly, an art consultant can help organize and focus your taste around particular artists and pieces.
Your art collection should bring you lifelong enjoyment, and not just serve as a temporary space filler. With a consultant’s help, you can collect artwork that you’ll appreciate for decades while bringing your own sense of ‘feng-shui’ to your home, while also making a solid investment. But art consultants don’t just work with personal collectors. Let’s take a look at some of the many ways to work with an art consultant. STAGING TO SELL Anyone who has sold a home lately knows the importance of staging the home to help would-be buyers imagine themselves living there. A carefully decorated house will not only be more inviting, but it can also provide opportunities for upsales. In the same way that people buy or rent furnished houses, a piece of art that matches the style and tastes of a buyer could be added to the home’s overall value. GROWING YOUR COLLECTION A more common engagement with an art consultant may come as you plan to start a collection. You know may know the type of art you’re looking for, but you may also have trouble finding and articulating it. An art consultant can help you find your own starting place and work with you throughout your collection journey. If you already have a collection but want to make it more cohesive, a consultant can help curate the collection to your tastes. OPTIMIZING YOUR HOME OFFICE Working from home has gone from a perk to a norm for many people over the last year. If you’re spending most of your time in your home office, why not reconfigure it so that it energizes you? Not to mention that artwork often makes for great Zoom backgrounds. The state of your home office space can have major effects on your well-being. Being at home already substantially lowers motivation to get work done. But giving yourself a separate space, that’s well set and designed, with artwork that speaks to you, can really help focus your mind and energize you throughout the day. CLEARING OUT Maybe you have a piece in your house that was gifted to you, or passed down to you from well-intentioned relatives, but you just don’t like it. Or it doesn’t fit the general space. A consultant can help you decide if you should you move it to a different room, or perhaps sell it. That piece could be worth a good bit of money that you could put towards something you really do like. And then there are times in our lives when we need to cash out some of our investments. As an individual, you might need the extra money for an unexpected expense. Institutions and organizations might liquidate items gifted to them, or want to reconfigure their collection. A consultant and appraiser can help you know the value of your pieces and help you find an appropriate place to sell in the event you want to sell them. No matter which of these cases you may fall into, there is a common thread through each engagement with an art consultant: The personal value you place on something. Each piece or item in your home has a certain amount of personal value placed upon it. If you value inherited pieces for their familial importance, you of course wouldn’t liquidate that item. But if it’s something you’ve got in storage, or never liked anyway? Maybe it’s time to sell and reinvest. So how do you find the right consultant? If you know an art appraiser, such as Drishti LLC, we can often recommend someone with whom we’ve collaborated. Or, in our case, you can also work with our in-house art consultant. Whether you’re just starting to collect, fine tuning your collection, or looking into an individual piece, there’s a lot of value in working with an art consultant and appraiser, and sometimes they’re the same person. Contact us today at [email protected].
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One of the surprising upsides to this year’s pandemic is that more fine art collectors can “buy with their eyes,” leveling the playing field for non-insiders and new collectors. With easier access to more options, there are more opportunities to spend money. So, today’s collector needs to take the right steps to make sure their money is making the right investment in art. Because that’s what your collection is; an investment. With your money at risk, why would you ever go into an auction or art gallery purchase without doing at least some cursory homework first? Getting an appraisal before an art purchase is a crucial step towards making a smart investment in art, but it’s just one step, and it should be among the first steps you take. Budget and Taste Before you get an appraisal for any piece you may bid on, you need to establish your budget. What’s the maximum amount you are willing to spend on any given piece or any lot of pieces? Even though you don’t need to have millions of dollars to make your first investment, getting your head around the going rates of artists and works you like will help you prepare for an auction. You will also want to consider your personal taste. Which sort of aesthetics do you find pleasing? What sort of artist do you want to support? As the canon of great art is reconsidered and made more inclusive, you may be inclined to support artists based on their cultural or geographical identities. Of course, one’s taste is subjective, and your own pleasure is one of the main values of investing. Many fine art appraisers also do art consultation work. Similarly, as you would with a financial advisor, you can discuss your budget, goals, and preferences with an art consultant who can help you narrow down your options for which artists’ works, or event types of work, you would like to invest in. Working with an Appraiser Once you’ve established your budget and tastes, an appraiser will help you research more artists that fit your preferences. They can also give you an idea of the right sort of venues to find the artwork to suit your tastes. In some cases, a fine arts gallery may actually be a better option for you than an auction. For instance, if a particular artist is experiencing a dip in demand, you might find that the best deals for their work can be found at an auction, whereas gallery prices are fairly stable, even when an artist goes through a slump. Auctions will typically start at a price that is below the expected final sales price. So, if the artist isn’t particularly popular, or if the auction isn’t well-attended, you can expect to find a great deal. Conversely, auctions do run on adrenaline, particularly when they are well-attended and featuring valuable artwork. So, having realistic expectations for how much you should spend can keep you from getting caught up in the excitement. What if you Win? Hopefully, you’ve got a firm grasp on how much you can spend and how much you should spend, and you’ve ended the auction with one or more new pieces for your burgeoning collection. Congratulations! Now what? Now that you’ve actually got the piece, and it’s not just a hypothetical, it’s time for another appraisal. We’ll determine the replacement value so that you can have it insured for any possible future damages or loss. And as the monetary value changes over time, you will have a baseline from which to calculate the return on your initial investment. Whether you’re preparing to attend your first or fortieth auction, I can help you set yourself up to be a smart fine arts investor before you even make your first bid. Contact us today at [email protected]. If someone were to ask you the value of any given piece in your collection, how would you answer? One immediate definition of the value of art is its approximate going rate at auction. Maybe it’s an heirloom, and its value is more sentimental than financial. Or maybe you inherited a piece and haven’t considered the monetary value.
Finding “Finds” When I talk about finding a “find,” I mean that obscure object that may have floated through generations of a family for so long that the origin story is just a faded memory. Maybe someone else had made the investment and no one has cashed in. Perhaps the value has changed significantly since it was purchased. Once I was giving an appraisal for a client who wanted me to look at some paintings. As we stood in front of one of the canvases, he said, “This one is the most valuable piece in the room.” But another piece had caught my eye on the way in. I said, “Actually, I think this bronze sculpture might be worth more.” Over on a coffee table was a mid-sized bronze piece that was serving as little more than a conversation piece. It was something the client had grown up with, an heirloom that had always just been around. No one had ever told him the story of it so he hadn’t thought to research its actual value. When we looked at comparable objects, we found that the sculpture was worth roughly $240,000. Further, we found that, as recently as the 1990s, an identical object was sold for $20,000. The price increased ten-fold in only a few decades. For that client, the random bronze sculpture turned out to a big “find.” He just hadn’t found it yet. “Finds” aren’t that common, and they’re tough to anticipate. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be finds! But you may have an object in our home right now that is secretly a treasure. Putting Yourself in the Best Position If you’re looking around you and thinking about what you already have in your collection, there are a few signs of a true “find.” Markings give us a lot of information. The more markings on the piece, such as signatures and dates, or, in the case of prints, edition numbers and double-signatures, the better. You’ll want to look at the markings on any piece, such as a sculpture’s foundry marking, to learn as much information as you can about the object. Sometimes a quick online search can give you an idea of whether or not you’ve got a find on your hands. Try to find a paper trail, any receipts, or history of sale. Appraisals for Selling If you have a potential treasure in your collection or home, like, say, a bronze statue on your coffee table, an appraisal can be a very useful tool for discovering the approximate value, especially if you intend to sell it. An appraisal gives you probable gains from sale, and even help you choose the right venue to sell your art. In addition to letting you know who will give you the best value for your sale, an appraiser can also recommend auction houses that are trustworthy. An auction house will take a percentage of the sale, but they also cover things like marketing, auctioning, and have reliable and professional handling and shipping for pieces after the sale has been made to the winning bidder. Having an appraisal before you go to an auction house will put you at an advantage to determine a minimum price. An appraisal will provide essential market information and give you a basis for negotiation. Auction houses will most likely want to start the bidding lower than the object might be worth, so being able to set a minimum price is a critical step to a successful sale. And if it turns out that a second-market gallery or private sale is a better fit than an auction house, an appraisal will provide solid information to determine a price. When it Doubt, Have it Appraised Whether hoping to find that next find or sell one that has already increased in value, you should be getting your art appraised. You want to make sure you’re always in the best position, especially as the world around is going through some major changes. Most art purchasing and auctions have moved online for the foreseeable future. However, the buying and selling processes are still generally the same. And this is actually a great time to get a virtual appraisal. Being able to appraise online makes things easier in some ways, and without having to budget travel and accommodations, it’s also more affordable. You could live in the desert and still get your item appraised from the mountains. You can’t always plan on finding a “find,” but finding an appraiser to work with is one way to make art worth the investment. Are you looking for that next find? Let’s talk.Contact us today at [email protected]. |
AuthorSonjia Weinstein is a fine art appraiser and Accredited Member of the International Society of Appraisers. She performs appraisals for estate planning and distribution, insurance and donations. Our appraisals are written to IRS standards and Sonjia maintains current USPAP compliance. Archives
July 2023
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