Picasso's "Les femmes d'Alger (Version 'O')," above, sold at Christie's for a hammer price of $160 million. Christie's fees bring the total cost to $179.57 million, a new record.
In 1997 the painting sold at auction for $31.9 million. In another 18 years, assuming the same rate of appreciation, the Picasso should fetch $800-900 million. In twenty years, maybe a billion!
Will art as an asset class really perform that well? For billionaires, borrowing money to purchase art costs next to nothing these days. Even semi-billionaires may find lenders willing to consider art as collateral. But sooner or later the flow of easy money is likely to slow. What do you think?
Update: Later media reports put the total price at 179.4 million.
Posts
1 comment:
I think that, as eye-popping as these numbers are, they are barely better than the S&P 500 for the same period.
Read all about it in the next ITN.
Post a Comment