Art as an investment: The market for modern prints

TLDR

The study constructs a semiannual price index for 1977‑92 by using repeat sales of modern prints at auction. The index shows that modern prints underperform traditional financial assets, exhibit high price volatility, and provide no evidence that certain artists or masterpieces command premium prices, though prices at Sotheby's consistently exceed those at Christie's. © 1993 American Economic Association.

Abstract

Repeat sales of modern prints at auction are used to estimate a semiannual index of prices for the period 1977-92. As in other studies of art as an investment, prints do not compare favorably to traditional financial assets. There is substantial noise in auction prices but little or no support for the proposition that some artists command higher prices in certain countries or that masterpieces outperform the market. One puzzle is the continuing tendency for prices realized at certain auction houses to exceed those realized at others: notably, at Sotheby's relative to Christie's in New York. Copyright 1993 by American Economic Association.