This paper employs a new data set from art auctions to examine the relationship between auctioneer presale price estimates and the long-term performance of artworks. While auction houses typically made no price estimates before 1973, they started providing high- and low-price estimates for all...

This paper employs a new data set from art auctions to examine the relationship between auctioneer presale price estimates and the long-term performance of artworks. While auction houses typically made no price estimates before 1973, they started providing high- and low-price estimates for all...

This paper constructs a new data set from art auctions that include auctioneer presale price estimates to examine the credulity of art investors. While auction houses typically made no price estimates before 1973, they start providing high- and low- price estimates for all artworks thereafter....

For centuries, wealthy individuals and institutions have collected and consumed art for aesthetic pleasure. While anecdotal evidence suggests that some artworks have appreciated in value over time, few studies have documented investment returns in art systematically. In this article, we...

Most high-net-worth individuals hold a portion of wealth in residential real estate and some collecting category. Art is the predominate collecting category of high-net-worth individuals, and this paper investigates the general effects of incorporating art as well as the particular effects of...

We estimate the effect of ordering by value on revenues in sequential art auctions held by Sotheby's and Christie's. We exploit a pre-determined rotation of which of these two houses holds their auction first during auction week in New York City. When the house that goes first has relatively...

This paper constructs a new data set of repeated sales of artworks and estimates an annual index of art prices for the period 1875-2000. Contrary to earlier studies, we find art outperforms fixed income securities as an investment, though it significantly under-performs stocks in the US. Art is...