If things go pear shaped in the hedge fund business, you can always sell your art collection. Adam Sender was an early buyer of Contemporary art with his profits from the trading desk. With the help of his then full-time curator, Todd Levin, Sender amassed an important collection of Contemporary art.
The trader was also an early mover when it came to selling. In 2006, Sender unloaded a number of works netting nearly $20m on 4o works sold. Now that he has closed his hedge fund, Sender is looking to liquidate his position in art as well. With most of the cost of acquisition covered by those previous sales, the $70m that Sotheby’s estimates is will make on moving these 400 works by 139 artists over the next 18 months is profit, according to Katya Kazakina’s story on Bloomberg:
Sherman’s photo “Untitled #93,” which Sender bought in 1998, is estimated at $2 million to $3 million, according to Sotheby’s. The color photograph from Sherman’s series known as “Centerfolds” fetched $96,000 at Christie’s in New York in 1998, according to the auction price database compiled by Artnet Worldwide Corp.
John Baldessari’s “Commissioned Painting: A Painting by Edgar Transue,” purchased in 2001, may bring $2 million to $3 million. Prince’s “Untitled (Cowboy),” which was also acquired in 2001, is valued at $1 million to $1.5 million.
“I was trying to buy the very best work,” Sender said in a 2011 interview with Bloomberg News. “It was not possible to afford the very best Warhols but you could buy a masterpiece by Richard Prince for $100,000 or $150,000.”
Sender to Sell $70 Million of Art After Closing Exis Fund (Bloomberg)