$110 Million Basquiat Sold by Family Who Bought It for $19,000

$110 Million Basquiat Sold by Family Who Bought It for $19,000

by Katya Kazakina
May 19, 2017, 9:13 AM GMT+8 Updated on May 19, 2017, 9:24 PM GMT+8

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s painting of a skull sold for $110.5 million at Sotheby’s in New York, setting an auction record for American artists and providing a windfall for the daughter of two collectors who purchased it for $19,000 in 1984.

The buyer was billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, founder of a Japanese fashion website, and a new force in contemporary art. The work led four days of bellwether auctions in New York where the world’s wealthiest investors and families dropped more than $1.5 billion on Impressionist, modern, postwar and contemporary art. The results surpassed the target of $1.3 billion and the series conclude on Friday.

Basquiat’s canvas was last purchased at auction three decades ago by the late New York collectors Jerry and Emily Spiegel. It then disappeared from the public view until the couple died in 2009 and their art trove passed on to their two feuding daughters, according to people familiar with the matter.

More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...-sotheby-s

Completely out of most people's circle of competence.

Besides, I doubt most people will have the fortitude and patience to hold any equity or art investment for 33 years.

In collecting art, buy something you like and can afford.
It does not need to be expensive.
Price appreciation is secondary and comes as a bonus if it happens.

When art is bought for consumption, there is less pressure to sell it for returns. This ironically improves the odds of making a positive return, since one would usually consume it for a long period of time (perhaps a decorative piece hanging on your wall) which increases the odds of the art being in demand and hence increasing in value.

I guess a similar logic can be applied to real estate too, which is dependent on the fortunes of its immediate physical environment and economy.

But for hold stocks for 33 years? It might have gone bust by then...

I bought some first day covers stamps and held for 30 years. Recently I saw their prices at some stamp shop. I think did not even double in prices. Hahaha.

Better get something that pays div while u wait for capital gains.

(22-05-2017, 01:45 AM)opmi Wrote: I bought some first day covers stamps and held for 30 years. Recently I saw their prices at some stamp shop. I think did not even double in prices. Hahaha.

Better get something  that pays div while u wait for capital gains.

I have stamps that are more than 100 years old and they don't cost a lot either. Perhaps need to keep it for my great grand kids....

Could this be a case of survivorship bias at work?

ie. The Spiegel couple collected many things over the years and a few of them turned out to be big (big) winners. Of course, they had their edge to make the difference, where it mattered. This isn't too different from how VCs work, i suppose.