Kelly Crow gives Asher Edelman some press in the Wall Street Journal for his new third-party guarantee business
Mr. Edelman recently set up his own firm, Art Assured Ltd., to arrange art investments. […] Going beyond art lending, he says he intends to stake money on artworks bound for auction, a niche only a few financiers have even explored. […] When a seller consigns a work to auction, Mr. Edelman’s firm, Art Assure, will pledge to buy the piece if it doesn’t sell for an agreed-upon minimum price. In exchange, the seller will pay the firm a fee of about 5% to 10% of the work’s guaranteed price. […] Unlike the auction houses, Mr. Edelman says he is also willing to stake a vast array of lower-priced objects—a $55,000 Modernist work on paper, say. […] Mr. Edelman says his idea is legal, doesn’t require any public disclosure and could benefit the entire market by convincing more collectors to trade works. […] Mr. Edelman plans to roll out the firm’s first guarantees by May.
“I used to do options conversions tables as a kid,” he says. “So anyone who competes with me on this has to know I’ll take it to the razor’s edge.”
The Art World’s Gordon Gekko (Wall Street Journal)
