Everyone argues whether fine art and collectibles are a suitable investment with the potential for substantial appreciation. Art consultants are making a living from this concept. In my first book "Art as Investment: An Anthology of Academic Research Papers from the Past One Hundred Years," I published a few academic research papers on the subject, leaving readers to decide for themselves. I did receive several comments with some thinking it was excellent and a few put off by the mathematics contained in modern economic research studies. In truth, you can skip the mathematics and still understand the results of the study and the reasoning behind its conclusions. Many felt that i had taken a biased approach and only published the papers I agreed with and abandoned the rest.In my new book, I have published more research papers and have also sought those research papers which were more current and contemporary. Again, I selected at random and simply looked for relevancy in the papers that I have published in my new book. The mathematics can be skipped and is simply used as an additional argument to bolster the academic researcher's conclusion. The content and conclusions are very clear in each paper even if you avoid the mathematics. I would not tamper with anyone's research finding and therefore provided no editing to the papers. They are here in their entirety. To simply quote excerpts or to eliminate parts of the paper or to substitute my own words would simply be wrong. In addition my understanding of each paper may be very different to how it appears to the reader.These academic research papers are simply tools to be used to get a better understanding of the issues and approaches. They should not be considered gospel and beyond refutation. They seemed very solid to me but then there are many ways of interpreting conclusions and results.Knowledge, in and of itself is good. This additional information as developed by career academics can only enhance one's understanding as to whether or not art should be also considered as an investment vehicle and if so, is it an asset class worthy of investment. I have spoken with many collectors and the truth is that if you buy an expensive work of art, there always exists an investment component. The very same applies in buying a residence. It may primarily as a place to live, raise kids or simply a place to hide from the world, but at all times it is also a financial investment. anyone you speak to can always give you an estimate of the home they live in. You do not have to read the whole book. You can simply glance through it and read only those papers that appeal to you. It does not matter. Even if you come away with only one good idea, it is worthwhile examining this book.
About the Author: I am a retired attorney, who practiced for over forty years in Manhattan. As I was winding down my practice, I began taking art history classes at Hunter College and then the Graduate School of the City University of New York. I continued visiting galleries and museums and also attending lectures. I have written two books on 19th century American landscape painters: "Three Wounded Champions of American Tonalism" and "Great but Now Forgotten: Nineteenth Century American Landscape Painters." I am a print collector and a great fan of Piranesi's Carceri (imaginary prisons) series and have also written a book on this series with an in depth analysis of the different states. I also am not immune to pecuniary interests and in all my books, I list the auction results of each artist and to make it more meaningful, convert the sales prices into current (inflation adjusted) prices. I now live in Miami where I am active at the Perez Art Museum of Miami (PAMM) where I am a docent. I go to all the lectures and openings and speak with numerous collectors. There concerns are the same as the New York collectors. They all have an abiding interest in art but are also concerned about financial values. Few talk about the economic aspects of art collecting and even fewer are aware of these fine academic research papers. I simply with to bring them to the attention of those who may benefit from them. It seems the only ones who talk about the economics of collecting are the advisers, auction houses, art funds and galleries, who all have a vested interest in how they present the case for investment.