Stolen copy of Salvator Mundi, Discovered in Naples flat

Stolen copy of Salvator Mundi, Discovered in Naples flat

Police in Naples have discovered a stolen 500-year-old copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, hidden in the attic of a flat. The Salvator Mundi, which achieved the highest recorded auction price for a single work, when it sold in Christie’s …

The rise in lending and borrowing against art

When Skate's Art Market Research took another look at the art market last year, the findings were striking: the art-loans book was on course to grow to over $10 billion, easily twice the level of art lending found by Skate's when they last analysed the market in 2011. Skate's also …

Unlocking art assets to buy new works for collectors

Small independent art dealers don’t need to be reminded that giant auction houses such as Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips have the financial clout to finance highly valuable individual pieces of artwork as well as collections at competitive interest rates. This kind of access to finance just hasn’t been available to …

Global art market falls in 2015, but experts aren’t panicking

Art dealers across the world have been crossing fingers and toes in anticipation of The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) Report 2016 from Dublin-based research and consulting firm Arts Economics, and for good reason. Founded by cultural economist Clare McAndrew, Arts Economics is widely considered to compile the most comprehensive …

Four up-and-coming artists to watch in 2016

Visual art has been one of the most evocative forms of expression since we inhabited caves. As Fine Art happens to be amongst the asset categories we collateralise for our unique secured asset loan at peer-to-peer lender Unbolted, we thought it might be timely to flag up some interesting new …

Who needs Antiques Roadshow with Unbolted in town?

Even if you’re not a regular viewer, the chances are that you’ve caught the occasional episode of the long-running BBC 1 TV programme, Antiques Roadshow. Just in case you’ve been marooned on a desert island or living in a Trappist monastery since 1979, the format is simple: an expert …

Turning art into cash and back again with Unbolted

Meet Harley, an independent art dealer who has a keen eye for emerging artists. He discovers a stunning sculpture by up-and-coming artist Sam Shendi and is certain that one client in particular will snap it up. Strikingly contoured, vibrantly coloured and fashioned in Shendi’s material of choice, steel, the work …

Monya’s choice: to grow or languish? Or Unbolted’s solution?

It takes quite a bit of courage, determination and resilience to abandon the security of salaried employment and strike out as an entrepreneur. To be fair, most people do it in stages, nurturing their fledgling businesses while holding down their day jobs and working all hours of the day and …

A post-Christmas credit card bill

Picture this scenario: it could easily be you. Jerome and Sarah have a big year ahead: they’re getting hitched in the summer and they’re also buying their first home in the months ahead. A relatively high-income couple with good financial prospects (Jerome is a senior registrar at a nearby hospital …

Release the value of your fine art

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 …

Maybe Unbolted can create the future you want

There’s no getting away from it. Sometimes, people make the wrong career choices. This was certainly true of Theo, a 28-year-old accountant who progressively realised that office work and number crunching really didn’t float his boat. Even as a boy, he’d always been an “outdoors” person who liked building things …

Unbolted supports a new gallery

Alec’s career path as an art dealer followed a fairly standard pattern: a passion for art (especially pop art probing the darker recesses of the psyche), an art history degree and then salaried employment as a dealer. Now he’s at an interesting point: he knows enough to go independent and …

How Unbolted breaks the two-tier art finance system

There’s an indisputable fact in the secured asset loans business: art is big – seriously big - as a collaterisable asset. Back in August, during a huge selloff in global equities, many collectors sought liquidity by using their art works as security for loans. As Bloomberg reported at the time, …

Somerset art dealers top ArtReview magazine’s Power 100 list

It was impossible for any art dealer who wasn’t in a coma last month to miss the recent news that world-renowned Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei was beaten by Somerset art dealers Iwan and Manuela Wirth to be named as the most powerful figures in the art world.

They’re …

The Faberge Pearl Egg - An objet d'art masterpiece

Free up some capital to invest in an Imperial prize….

 Fabergé has revived its revered tradition of creating the most precious and coveted of objets d’art.
Paying homage to the centenary of the last Fabergé Imperial Eggs ever delivered, Fabergé has crafted an extraordinary, one-of-kind egg objet in collaboration with the …

Investing in Photography

For those looking at starting an art collection, photography is an art form that is growing in both popularity and financial merit.  However, it can often be a daunting experience, not just because of knowing what to buy, but also because of knowing how to buy.   An image upload …

Do we buy art for appreciation or investment?

Imagine you see a Jackson Pollock, or perhaps a painting by Mark Rothko.

Why do people buy these paintings? In his latest article ‘The Final Word’, Phillip Hook - author of Breakfast at Sotheby’s: An A-Z of the Art World (Penguin) - puts forward that people do this for a …

11 Minutes to Secure the Most Expensive Painting in the World

In early May, the world's most expensive painting,  "Les femmes d'Alger" version O painted by world famous artist Pablo Picasso in 1954-1955, sold at auction for a record-breaking £102.6 million.

What is actually more incredible is that it sold in 11 minutes with bidders competing in person and over the phone!

Not …

Collecting a Fortune

We’re all as unique as our finger prints, and never is that more evident than with the things we collect.  Serious collectors can spend thousands building a unique collection with the hope one day that it can be worth a fortune.

Rarity and value are foremost in the collector’s mind …

The Art of Investing

Several pieces sold by Bonhams over the course of the last few years have been record-breaking, from Fragonard’s The Portrait of François-Henri d’Harcourt, which sold for £17.1 million, to the rare Buddhist (377 BC – 1017 AD) Indian carved stone temple step, selling for £553,250 – a world record for a …

Old Masters versus Contemporary Art

Until a few decades ago, Old Masters was the most popular segment of the art market. Now it comprises just 10% of the value of the art market with an annual auction sales of just 1 billion euros. Despite occasional moments in the spotlight such as the auction of …

Don't sell the painting in haste!

If you are an entrepreneur or an owner of a small business you can relate to the pressure of short term funding requirements. Most entrepreneurs have had to bootstrap for that extra couple of months till the funding deal closed and a majority of small businesses have faced delays in …