The Role of Art & Antique Dealers An Added Value Figure 9. New Versus Old Buyers
OLD COLLECTORS
High knowledge
NEW BUYERS
Specialised and seek quality...
...But may buy 20 of the same thing
Older and rich (or not)
© Arts Economics 2011
Serious money, less knowledge
Seek unique... ...But buy along
short-term trends and media orientated
Buy for investment and aesthetic
Although individual buyers often make up a substantial portion of the value of dealers’ sales, trade and institutional buyers are an equally important part of many businesses. Dealers often sell to other dealers and some do regular business with museums, which were seen as an important buyer segment as they tend to buy less at auction. The mix of individual versus institutional bases for buyers in many segments has also changed over time. For example in some of the older sectors of the art market such as Old Masters, there was strong institutional buying in the 1980s and 1990s, but this has dropped considerably over the last two years as budgets have been cut back and endowments closed down.
Another feature of the current economic climate is that corporate buyers have dropped out of the market in some sectors or are spending less through dealers. More generally there is a feeling that over the last two years, all buyers have become more cautious, and buying in the middle sector of the market has been hit particularly badly as middle to high income buyers have suffered proportionally more than the super-rich. On a positive note, the current recession is first in a long time where interest rates are low, which has meant that rather than simply keeping their money in the bank until the recession is over, the super-rich are having to actively pursue other safe investment options and spend money that would otherwise be lying idle and not generating returns. This has helped to keep the art market afloat as art and antiques are seen as long-term assets with tangible value.
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