The Miami Herald’s Douglas Hanks stumbles onto a two-fer in his story on the surging value of Contemporary art. First, he reveals that the Artist Pension Trust will try to realize gains this week during the fair. Second, he gives a nice illustration of the batting average most collectors of new work would consider a great success:

At this year’s Art Basel week, Pamela Auchincloss will officially launch a novel test for art’s staying power as an investment.

She presides over a fund started six years ago that signs artists willing to pool sales of their works. The artist agrees to let the Artist Pension Trust sell the works for up to 20 years, taking a 40 percent share of the purchase price for his or her own work and then sharing the rest of the proceeds with fellow trust artists.

The fund hopes to make its first sales at Miami’s Scope fair — the debut transactions in a collection of 6,500 works from 1,400 artists that is valued at roughly $5 million.

Auchincloss, a former gallery owner, described art investments as hit-and-miss, with some works losing all their value as an artist’s career fizzles. But when an artist makes it, the windfall pays off exponentially.

“I’ve bought art over the years. I have 15 works worth a lot of money, and 35 that are worth nothing,” she said. “Those 15 count for a lot.”

What Is Art Worth? (Miami Herald)