News-Antique.com - Jul 15,2010 - What Art Investors Can Learn from Gold Investors – artmarketblog.com
If am sure that everyone who is reading this post will be aware that the price of gold has increased significantly in recent times and is poised to increase even more over the coming months. The long bull run that gold has been able to sustain has made the gold market one of the most watched and analysed markets on the planet, and has given people even more reason to consider acquiring a physical position in gold. As an art market analyst and art investment expert I try and keep an eye on as many different investment markets as I can in an effort to acquire knowledge and skills that I can apply to the art market. Although the art market is a unique market that appears to have very little in common with other investment markets, I often come across small yet very important similarities when comparing the art market to other markets that usually turn out to be very useful. In fact, even analysing small differences between the art market and other markets can prove to be beneficial when assessing the art market as a whole or a particular sector/event. For this reason I always find it interesting and useful to make comparisons between what is happening in the art market, and what is happening with other investment markets.
One investment market that I have paid particularly close attention to recently is the gold market. I am not only keeping an eye on the gold market because of the progress it is making, but also because one can learn a lot about the art market and art investment from what many people consider to be the ultimate safe haven investment. Gold has been used as a store of value/wealth and a form of currency for thousands of years, and continues to remain the ultimate universal representation of wealth and value. To understand what the gold market has to teach us about the art market and art investment one must first know a few important things about gold and the gold market. One of the most significant reasons that gold is such a highly prized metal is that is a very rare and finite resource. In fact, it is estimated that if all the gold that has been mined on earth to date were put together, it would not quite even fill a 20mx20m cube. Add to this the fact that the amount of gold mined every year would only add 12cm to this cube and one can see exactly how rare gold is. Not only is gold rare, but it also has particular physical properties that make it even more desirable and more suitable as an investment. It is partly because gold does not corrode, rust or tarnish, and cannot be counterfeited, that it is such a suitable store of value and such a popular investment. By purchasing physical positions in gold one can feel pretty confident in
