Ancient Art as an Investment… here we go again! Item Number: 100104 $0.00

DescriptionNormally, once I have expressed my opinions on something, I rarely go back and do it again. This week, I just can’t resist. Over the last 2 weeks I have been reading many blogs on the Ancient Artifacts group (Yahoo) and other places about how the world is falling apart and how that buying ancient art is not a good idea as an investment. Many in the group were espousing the idea that right now the only place to buy was the gold and silver markets. Their theories were that when the world falls apart, only gold and silver would be considered desirable, therefore to hell with all other investments. Bunk!

First, perhaps it’s time we all take a giant step back and get a little bit “real!” Yes, the world economy (outside of a few major exceptions) is soft. Heck, I’ll even go so far as to say it is VERY soft! But last time I checked, every morning I wake up, the sun comes up just about on schedule, the birds are singing (damn happy little shits!), I eat my calorie-laden breakfast, drive my kid to school, go to work, eat another calorie-laden lunch, work some more, go home and eat more calories, watch my big-screen TV, usually work some more and go to bed – only to do it again the next day. If my guess is correct, that is pretty much how most of us are these days. But the difference seems to be, we watch the stock market go wildly up and down, we hear the pundits tell us the world is in a serious hurt, and we panic – as if the world, the US, or the Europeans have never experienced times of economic uncertainty.

I am the first to agree, I do wish unemployment was lower. I wish the stock market was more stable. I wish China did not own the US, but those are things outside my control right now. I have a job, I make enough money to get by, and quite frankly I deserve to spoil myself once in a while. And if I do that by spending my hard-earned money on ancient “trinkets” so be it. Despite what the doomsayers will tell you, my ancient art is not going to go down in value and you can’t eat gold (should things ever really get to that point)!

A little perspective perhaps… Over the last 50 years, ancient art has been a tremendous investment. Most of the major cultures have seen double-digit growth consistently for the last 10 years – and please don’t tell me things were all that rosy financially during the Bush presidency! Ancient art is not a commodity. It has a limited supply (pretty much fixed these days with all the laws protecting cultural heritage), and still a reasonably strong demand – watch the major auction houses if you don’t believe me. But – I will reiterate - if you buy ancient art as an investment, buy investment-grade ancient art! That means buy things that are of a quality that someone else will want them when you are “done” enjoying them. If you buy broken-down, poorly repaired, un-provenanced crap off eBay and expect to make a decent profit, you won’t! But if buying bits and baubles off eBay makes you happy, who the heck is anyone to tell you not to buy it!!?? I have bids on eBay right now (but I sure as heck won’t tell you on what!).

Life is short. Enjoy it. Art makes me happy. If it makes you happy, buy it, enjoy it and let your kids worry about selling it later!

Would somebody kill those damn birds!

Bob