Alas, many people are faced with extensive Christmas credit card bills now that the holiday season has ended. If you’re fortunate enough to own a high-value possession, however, a unique option is available: a secured asset loan from peer-to-peer lender Unbolted.
Unbolted’s specialist partners determine the value of a personal asset on a secondary market and use it as collateral for the loan. The collateralised asset acts as security for the borrowing, preventing the need for intrusive credit searches or footprints against the borrower’s credit rating.
Fine art is one asset category that we accept as security for our loans. Here’s what to look for if you want some idea of the value of that artwork you’ve got hanging on your living room wall.
As Sotheby’s specialist art auctioneer Philip Hook has noted, the artist’s name is not the only determinant of value, though the old masters always wax and wane in popularity. Just a few years ago, the highest auction price for a Francis Bacon, for example, stood at £5.75 million. Then, in May 2013, one of Bacon's works suddenly reached a record £96.7 million.
Art history is unlikely to downgrade true eternals such as Picasso, Matisse, Rembrandt, Rubens, Leonardo and Raphael. However, art historians have recently reassessed the importance of the German expressionists and surrealists, resulting in their works growing considerably in price. High-profile exposure for an artist who’s just featured in a prominent exhibition at the Tate also sharply drives up prices. Due to a shift in taste over the last forty years, contemporary art is now in popular demand.
Hook highlights the role of “positive romantic baggage” in an artist’s value. There’s no disputing the value of Van Gogh’s work in art history, for instance, but the tragic romance and suffering in his life also enhances his appeal, financially and emotionally, to collectors.
The artist’s back story has a significant influence on the value of his or her works. Tragic love affairs, rebellious episodes, struggles with mental illness and even premature death can all function as commercial positives. Bacon, Warhol and Munch, for example, had turbulent private lives, a fact that plays into their myths and boosts the prices of their best works.
Beyond name and colourful back story, period is a powerful factor in determining art value. Any Picasso will fetch a good price, but works that he produced in the 1930s are considerably higher in value (it’s his most sought-after period). Similarly, a late Renoir is worth less than one dating from the 1870s, while a late Van Gogh is worth more than his early works.
The market also prizes high recognisability: think Munch’s “The Scream” or a Monet featuring Rouen Cathedral or waterlilies, all of which command appreciably higher prices than a less-typical still life or portrait by the same artist.
Like people, paintings age and suffer over time, and some have even undergone cosmetic reconstruction. If it’s too extensive, then price suffers. Finally, if a work's history is reputable, then its price goes up: a Cézanne owned by Paul Mellon would, for example, be worth considerably more than if it had once been owned by Field Marshal Hermann Göring.
