A few days ago, on December 27, Forbes Magazine became the latest publication to write extensively about the recent surge in the still undervalued antiquities market.
The article started with an interview with legendary hedge-fund-manager-turned-full-time-philanthropist Michael Steinhardt who has quietly managed to assemble one of the largest and most important antiquities collections in the world. Aside from aesthetic return on investment, Steinhardt believes there is money to be made in antiquities.
The article makes a critical point that most others fail to make: "To be sure, shady characters and illegally obtained objects are lurking," says the Forbes article, "but the antiquities market is not dominated by crooks. In fact, it is possible to build a world-class collection of legal, museum-quality pieces for a fraction of what it might cost to build a collection of similar quality in another field, such as Impressionist or contemporary art."
As I have been saying for years, antiquities continue to be considered by insiders in the art world as relatively undervalued and a boon for buyers even at the entry-level end of the market. This is about to change, and the Forbes article briefly touches on this trend.
"Antiquities are considered to be relatively undervalued and only recently have prices begun to climb, much like the newfound popularity of Old Masters a decade ago. In 2000, Sotheby's (nyse: BID - news - people ) sold at auction a marble torso of Eros, the Greek god of love, that had been deaccessioned by the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. The low estimate for the 20" tall statue, which dates back to the Roman Imperial period (second half of the 2nd century), was $60,000 to $90,000. It sold to a dealer for a hammer price of $240,000. Four years later, the dealer sold it to a collector in Monte Carlo for $729,000. The current owner was recently offered $1.15 million for the statue," according to Forbes.
Experts believe prices will continue to escalate, with fewer museum-quality objects remaining in private hands. The supply of high-quality pieces is dwindling because many objects have been taken out of circulation--either they have been donated to museums or are no longer allowed to leave their country of origin," the article continues.
Click for the complete Forbes article.
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