Who should I buy art for?

The art market is a place where production is never stopped. In the spring of 2014, the film was opened. Hong Kong Sotheby's continued to write wonderful new stories. Legendary lady Barbara? Hutton’s old jadeite bead necklaces were sold for HK$214 million, setting a new record in the world auction of jade jewelry. The Ding Yao Bowl from Clark's old possessions started off at HK$40 million and the price of HK$147 million was traded, setting the highest auction price for Ding Kiln porcelain. Ming Cheng Hua Doo Cai Crock Cup was won by Liu Yiqian, a collector of HK$280 million, which set a record for the auction of Chinese porcelain in the world...

In every applause after the people's eye-catching high price drop, I always get into a puzzle... Barbara? Although the legendary life of Hutton's tragic life is ups and downs, but it is enough to make her more than 200 million worth of necklaces in a collection of thousands of extraordinary imaginary jewelry? The four-centimeter-high chicken bowl cup is indeed an extremely rare boutique product of Chenghua Dou-Chung, but with a transaction value of 280 million Hong Kong dollars, it has completely exceeded the valuation system of the art market. If these sky-high prices are all about breach of contract, there will be endless delays in payment, counterfeiting, false trading, hype, and the use of open-price artwork for short-term financial leverage. On the edge of the huge price bubble, how do buyers on the court judge the purchase of artwork? Who is in charge of the value of the artwork? Who should I buy for art?

In the normal market structure, consulting on how to buy artworks is nothing more than through these channels:

1. Secondary Market - Auction House

The auction house is an open large-scale art agency, relying on its experts in the identification of various specialized fields, appraising standards, access to special channels of works, and supporting services to win credibility, promote sales, commissions. In particular, he specializes in providing information on paintings, oil paintings, antiques and some rather rare works of art that have not yet existed in the world. The top international auction houses have almost two hundred years of history. In the process of continuous historical replacement and academic precipitation, the valuable information on the preservation of the world of art is preserved, and the context of circulation is also rational. Models and extremely stringent industry rules control.

However, the development of Chinese auction houses is somewhat "destructive". It should be a genuine, "boutique" market that meets the bidding mechanism. However, due to the influx of large amounts of capital in a short period of time, large and small auction houses are filled with people who follow suit. , and meet the low-quality work of market speculators. The art market is a market with high barriers, professionalism, and attractiveness. The meticulous marketing of auction houses, astronomical records, and powerful expert identities are common to buyers who have no knowledge base and experience. It is very convincing.

2. Primary Market - Gallery/Antique Shop/Private Dealer

In fact, the pricing of artworks should be laid in the primary market. The various agencies that make up the primary market are key market segments that maintain continuous day-to-day transactions, participate in market changes every day, and interact with artists and artists for the first time. The price of a type of work of art or an artist should be supported by a wide range of collectors who pave the way for the first-tier market institutions. In the international art market, commercial galleries are modern sales, from the end of the 19th century to the early 20th century, and the most important entities of contemporary living artists are mainly oil paintings, sculptures, and emerging composite media arts. The only classical family gallery that can sell early 19th century and earlier is the very long family clan gallery. Alongside the galleries are different categories of antique shops that daily promote a variety of historically valuable artifacts and antiques around the world.

Private brokers are very special and interesting characters in the art market. He is tied with galleries and antique shops, and is widely intertwined in the trade of all kinds of artworks. They are of a different origin, some are scholars in a certain field, high-level art museums, some are retired auction house experts, some are descendants of family collections, but also have financial and legal backgrounds, and love art works. Common grounds are deep in one area. The professional knowledge, at the same time, has masterpieces of trading and possession of upper and lower ends of the collector's home, trading experience. Gallery owners and antique dealers are called brokers, not private brokers, because they have physical stores, exhibitions, acting artists, or a lot of stocks. Private brokers only serve more high-end works and buyers. Most of the works they traded were little-known. Many years were precious works that were not exposed on the market, and many of the suppliers behind the heavyweight auctions at auctions were senior private agents. Most sellers and buyers who are more willing to seek private business are more prominent, and for various reasons, they are not suitable for trading on their own. They are bought and sold through art dealers with knowledge and experience, but they feel safer and sometimes more costly. low. Most of these brokers’ identities are known only in professional circles and are usually very low-key. They will carefully protect the works' traces and guest information, and at the same time, understand various issues related to the handling of art transactions, such as taxes, cross-border financial problems, and transportation. , storage, long-term maintenance, borrowing of works, copyright, re-sale and continuous tracking.

The threshold for professional private agents is high. Not only does it require a deep understanding and judgment of the art itself, but it also requires a comprehensive and comprehensive understanding of the general trend of the art market and the functional roles of various groups of people. Hard-to-reach special social resources make accurate judgments in difficult and discernible and complicated market information. At the same time, it must have sufficient personality charm, easy to obtain the trust of elites, and have both a principled attitude and a service spirit. There are only a handful of professional brokers in the domestic market. The key to investors and art-loving buyers is to first contact the right person.

3. Independent art consultant

This is a more niche professional group. Their skills and resources are very similar to those of private brokers, but they do not collect commissions for trading. Instead, they rely on long-term full-time positions for collectors, investors, museums, and other institutions, sometimes even for The artist provides consulting work and collects consulting fees. In other words, McKinsey in the art market only has never had a large pure consulting company. They are basically individuals, specializing in different art categories to solve problems for high-end customers. There are specialized arts consultant associations and organizations abroad, protecting their interests is also easy for buyers to find these people to seek advice. Their most special point is that independent consultants are not affiliated with any organization and do not rely on buying and selling to earn money. Therefore, they have independent opinions and dare to "speak" to expose real problems. Their identity is also in contrast to the mysterious private agents, and they are exposed. Many are sharp professional critics, curators, art historians, or veterans who withdraw from large art galleries, public interest organizations, collection agencies, and art media. . Criticism is a mature, stable, and crucial level in the international art market. Sometimes their words can influence the success or failure of an artist, the sale of tens of millions of paintings by an auction house, or the knowledge of a collector about art. This is a role that requires a high degree of professional ethics. It is difficult for such independent consultants to be seen in China. Too many buyers in China need to conduct a due diligence on the consultants around them before investigating artworks.

In the art market, various roles, territories, and divisions should perform their duties, and they all strive for the great development of the entire industry. Actually, as a buyer, there is also a responsibility to find a correct consultant to buy artwork. The active learning of buyers, as well as the rational understanding of people and affairs around them, will save a lot of detours for the development of this industry.