Investor Service

Investing In Art

Wether you are new to buying art, an avid collector or looking to invest in art, we might just be able to help you. Paper Scissor Stone offers an Art Finders service, we can advise on hot artists or using our network of contacts at auction houses and private collections we can track down Art that you may have a particular interest in . The fee for this service is based on each individual client’s requirements. 

Why Invest In Art?

With the current uncertain state of the economy, Art could bea good place to put your money. Most art will appreciate in value over five to ten years and best of all, rather than an intangible figure locked away in someone else’s vault, you can actually see your investment and enjoy it!

Why is Art thought to be a good investment in times of economic crisis?

Art is considered a luxury good due to it's high prices it is considered by some to be recession proof as it exists within its own market that functions independently to the general market. 

Is this true in today’s recession?

A large indication whether the Art market would be affected by the current recession was back in September 2007 when Damien Hirst sold two years worth of his art work at Sotheby’s. With controversial confidence in the market and his work, he chose for the first time not to take his work to the galleries to sell, but to take it straight to the open market of the auction house. The results of this were whispered to indicate the liveliness of the market, and it proved to be very lively indeed, selling a record: £95.7 million. In recent months though, auction houses Sotheby’s and Christies have been seen to lower their minimum bids to ensure sales and keep the quantity of lots sold at a good level.

What does this mean?

It's a buyers world. You are more likely to pick up a piece of art work based on its true value rather than an inflated figure. This is true for both buying artwork on the primary and secondary market. This is an ideal time to build your collection or begin buying.

I don’t have millions! Can I still invest in art?

Yes definitely. If you are on a budget as most of us are these days, Limited Edition and Artist’s Prints are a good place to start investing as these do not require you to fork out the huge sums you would expect to pay for an original. Even Limited edition prints can have very good appreciation rates, e.g. In 2000 a limited edition Valium print by Damein Hirst published by Brit Art sold for £500, today these prints fetch £20,000 on the secondary market. In October 2006 you could buy an Anthony Micallef print ‘Dirty Deluxe’ for £600, yet in March 2007 the same print would have cost you £6,000 on the primary market. It is important to remember that not all Limited Edition prints will appreciate in value to this degree, and it depends largely on the success or length of the artist’s career. 

The current trend in investment is in Asian contemporary art especially Chinese and Indian artists. Our top tip of the next hot spots to look for good artists is a turn to North Korea and a return to Japan.

Japan: Having already enjoyed much interest and investment from the 1970’s with artists such as Yayoi Kusama, Yoko Ono and Hiroshi Sugimoto, in the last five years other areas of the Asian market have taken over the market. However Japan is predicted to re-establish itself with a new set of up and coming artists, a catalyst in this has undoubtedly been Takashi Murakami’s art production company Kaikai KiKi.

North Korea: Due to its political turmoil North Korean art has been hard to come by and secretive a the country itself. However, now the propaganda posters of the DPRK, one of the countries numerous approved art factories, will be on display at the Asia-Pacific Trennial of Contemporary Art..  Perhaps even more interesting is a secretive leak of North Korean artists now living in South Korea working in abstraction, an artistic form banned in their home country, which reveals to us a body of new, interesting and politically controversial artwork.