An article in Barron’s this week charts the instability and unpredictability of various materials in contemporary art as a considerable liability towards a work’s valuation and security as an investment.  “A great deal of art being sold today may deteriorate quickly and cause the monetary value to decline – precipitously in some cases,” says Emily MacDonald-Korth, founder of Longevity Art Preservation LLC. (more…)

The New York Times continues its thorough investigations into the contemporary art and auction markets, noting struggling stock prices for Sotheby’s and mammoth Chinese auction house Poly Culture Group Corporation, and the statistical dissonances in the claims of auction houses trumpeting a new golden age for the market.  “There’s a feeling among financial analysts that the valuations of art-related companies are peaking,” says Fabian Bocart of Tutela Capital. “These valuations are based on expected volumes at auction. Very expensive items have almost no impact.” (more…)

The dispute between Third Point and Sotheby’s has taken a new turn, as the fund launches Value Sotheby’s, a website dedicated to stating the case against the current management at the auction house.  “Despite management touting a “record year” in 2013, Sotheby’s company health is not what the Company would lead you to believe,” the site notes, before citing figures from the embattled company’s past year. (more…)

A federal bankruptcy court judge has ruled that the Detroit Institute of Arts cannot be forced to undergo a full valuation of its collection, following pressure from city creditors for a second estimate.  The collection, valued between $452 million and $866 million, seems to have some space to maneuver moving forward, especially given judge Steven W. Rhodes’s statement that he took quite seriously the opinion of Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette’s when he said that the “art collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts is held by the City of Detroit in charitable trust for the people of Michigan, and no piece in the collection may thus be sold, conveyed, or transferred to satisfy city debts or obligations.”

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The long-disputed valuation of the Detroit Institute of Arts’ collection has finally been completed, with a final valuation that falls somewhere between $454 million to $867 million.  This valuation factors in a Van Gogh self-portrait valued at $150 million on its own, as well as a Bruegel the Elder painting that could sell for anywhere between $100 and $200 million.  (more…)

A group of Detroit’s creditors are pushed for an independent valuation of the Detroit Institute of Arts collection, marking a tense escalation between the city and its debt collectors, with the embattled museum caught in the middle.  “This motion doesn’t compel a sale,” said Derek Donnelly of Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. “It just establishes a communal framework for addressing value maximization of the artwork.” (more…)

In an unprecedented move, the final tally of Christie’s Detroit Institute of Arts appraisal later this fall will offer a rare look into the true market value of a major museum’s art collection.  Expected to reach into the billions, the valuation of the museum’s collection will add a new sense of urgency to the current budgetary crisis in Detroit, and its effects on DIA.  “This is like the weighing of souls,” says Maxwell Anderson, director of the Dallas Museum of Art. “This is biblical stuff, not the approximations that insurance companies look for. It’s extremely problematic for all museums, because it alters the public’s perception of artworks from being ciphers of public heritage of transcendent value, to objects for sale to pay other people’s debts.” (more…)

ARTNews’ annual list of the world’s top art collectors has been released, detailing the most prolific and high-spending patrons from around the world.  Among the top 10 are a number of recognizable names, including Eli Broad,  Steven A. Cohen, and François Pinault.  Also of note is a brief article stating the number of collectors willing to spend high dollar amounts for desired works. “I’d say the figure for those going over $20 million is about 150. There are about 100 who would go over $50 million.” Says Sotheby’s Executive Vice President Charles Moffett.   (more…)

A painting bequeathed to the British National Trust has been identified as a self-portrait of Rembrandt van Rijn, refuting prior beliefs that the work was done by one of his students, or perhaps a copy.  Donated in 2010, the work was recently rexamined by Rembrandt expert Ernst van de Wetering, of the Rembrandt Research Project, and who was immediately convinced that the work was by the famous Dutch artist.  This new discovery raises the estimated value of the work to £20 million.  “Over the past 45 years we have gathered far more knowledge about Rembrandt’s self-portraits and the fluctuations in his style,” said Van de Wetering. “In 2005 I published an analysis of the genesis of the painting on the basis of an x-ray. This analysis and newly found circumstantial evidence remarkably increased the likelihood that the painting was by Rembrandt himself.”

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26 Years after his death, the art market for American painter Jean-Michel Basquiat is at an all-time high, with the artist’s works totaling over $161 million in sales last year.  According to online art database ArtNet’s index generation system, his remarkable growth puts him in the top 10 artists by volume sold in 2012, and gives his work a sell through rate of 85%. (more…)