Art Collecting As an Investment: The Bigger Fool Theory in Practice.

This is a lesson I write about periodically because it’s worth repeating. If you want what I often refer to as a perfect example of the Bigger Fool Theory, collect art as an investment without first bothering to understand some fundamentals. 

I talk as a collector of art myself; of original prints where I can be assured of the originality of the prints. (That eliminates much of what’s out there.)

Art collecting has become Big Business as much as has athletics with its $20 million dollar a year athletes playing a boy’s game. Few collectors know what to buy but depend on a buyer who’s more ignorant than they, to pay more than they for the item in a future sale. 

What isn’t truly original in an artistic sense is often passed off as original in the eyes of so-called sophisticated professionals.

In fact, Ponzi artists who have been jailed for operating in Wall Street were in the wrong business. In the art business, most would never be caught. I will explain in future comments. (See the Earl J. Weinreb NewsHole® comments.)