Gentlemen and Knaves

BusinessWeek covers the new firms selling title insurance for art works. If you don’t think you need title insurance, ponder this:

“The stolen art industry is second only to gun trafficking and drug-running. They say it’s tied into that, and I believe that’s exactly true”

And this:

“The art industry is large and unregulated,” says Charles Dupplin, chairman of Hiscox’s Art & Private Client Div., which reinsures ARIS. Dupplin says he is surprised by the amount of attention ARIS has already managed to attract, but he predicts that art title insurance will become a more commonly used tool “in an industry, that like any good industry, consists of both gentlemen and of knaves.”

Gulf of Opportunity?

Development in Dubai has been no secret around the world. But with development also comes an art market which Emirates Business 24-7 estimates anecdotally at $70 million in Dubai and $100 million around the Gulf.

With the Gulf seeing its first-ever art boom, spurred both by runaway real estate growth and increased liquidity, galleries are putting their money into prime real estate to reach out to a new class of art connoisseur.

“With any industry, the emergence of a new market gives rise to new opportunities, and art is really not that different,” in Dubai, particularly, the market has grown with the success of the art fair and with established auction houses basing their Middle Eastern headquarters here.

And not just the Gulf . . .

Bloomberg reports from the Moscow World Fine Art Fair

“More Russian buyers are getting into the art market, and the wealthiest among them want the top end, especially European art,” said Alexander Lachmann, a Russian emigre dealer and collector from Cologne, Germany. “They tend to buy art for decorative purposes, and also seek brand-name recognition to score status points.”

Don’t forget India!

Gulf News puts a number on the Indian art market:

“The Indian art market turns over roughly $300 million of sales internationally, and much of it can be accounted for by the wealth of the Indian diaspora.”