Big Adjustment of Art Market: A Game between Collection and Speculation

Some people took this big adjustment of the art market from the autumn auction last year to the spring auction of this year and it was likened to a process of “defoaming”.

In recent years, with the various agencies that use art investment ** as the main body, the art market is rapidly shifting from a collection type to an investment type or even a speculative one. The advent of the “capital era” in the art market has become a consensus. Art has become a speculative tool for buying low and selling high prices. Many auction items have changed hands many times in the short term, and the trading price has reached new heights. With the promotion of capital, the transaction price of some artworks has seriously deviated from its intrinsic value. At the same time, a large number of individual collectors have to face the skyrocketing art price due to lack of financial strength and can only “sigh and sigh” and temporarily exit or stop to wait and see.

There is no market that just rises or falls. The "bubble" of prices and excessive speculation will inevitably lead to adjustments and downturns in the market. In the process of squeezing the "bubble," the two major camp collectors or long-term investors and short-term speculators In between, another round of "games" was unfolded. On the one hand, some speculative buyers who are chasing high prices have suffered. Not only the high yields expected in the market have been unable to replicate, but it is even harder for them to “sell” goods. On the other hand, as a solid foundation for the market, collectors have once again entered the market, including many new faces. Only the collectors have made new directions and tastes for the selection of the auction items. Apart from excellent masterpieces, they are still highly sought after. Some of the categories with high levels of cultural and artistic content in the “valuable place” are also taken seriously.

Corresponding to this situation, auction companies have also begun to “deepen their potentials” in depth, focusing on the excavation of cultural values ​​and academic combing. For example, Guardian launched two special auctions for “ink paintings” and “new ink” for the first time, with turnover exceeding 65 million yuan and 13.8 million yuan, the turnover rate exceeded 80% and 90%. Huachen launched special events such as the "Special Scene of Paintings and Paintings by Historians in Ming Dynasty" and "Hundred Years of Qigong". The literati's old possessions were paid extra attention and became a bright color in the depressed market. In Gardner's “Wen Xinlei Chinese Contemporary Literati Painting and Calligraphy Collection” special event, nearly 200 works had a transaction rate of 97%. Among them, many auction items of “Tangzi Tibetan Treasures” were sold at a price more than 10 times higher than the valuation.

Statistics show that since 2004, as the fifth largest investment channel, the wealth effect of the Chinese art market has been highlighted. The annual return on investment is as high as 26%, which has surpassed stocks and real estate with high risk factors. However, the influx of capital has brought new problems to the market while expanding the scale of the art market. The starting point of the collection of art lies in the sincere love and protection of the arts, and the profit-oriented nature of capital makes it easy for the collection market to deviate from the main line and lose its original intention.

The particularity of artworks determines the difference between the inherent laws of the art market and the financial market. Using the idea of ​​speculation in the financial market to operate art trades may not necessarily achieve the desired results. This time the market was "cold," allowing some speculators to taste the lessons of failure. Because financial markets have a complete valuation system, it is difficult for artwork to have a standardized valuation. At the same time, the circulation of works of art is far inferior to that of financial products. When the stock market oscillates, the holders can sell themselves at a loss. In the art market, when you want to withdraw, you may not take over.

For real collectors, or long-term investors, they are prepared for long-term when they buy art. Even if they do, they can use “time for space” to get a surprise return.