Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

UK Web-Based Pawnbroker Gets Plenty of Art

August 1, 2011 by Marion Maneker

CNBC reports on Borro, an online pawnbroker, that seems to be doing good business in art-backed short-term loans:

Speaking to CNBC.com in his office on Chancery Lane in the City of London, Borro founder and CEO Paul Aitken reeled off a list of recent loan deals: “What have we got going on this week? We’ve got a 50-grand ($82,000) loan against a yacht, 75,000 (pounds) against a classic Aston Martin; a Picasso that was bought in 1989. We did some Andy Warhols the other week.

“Four and a half grand on a Rolex – needed the money while he’s going through a divorce. An art dealer closed a loan for five grand this week. That’s the guy that’s coming back with the Picasso. Someone who borrowed 20 grand against a Jaguar–that closed yesterday. That was for something to do with his business. We get a lot of small business owners that need liquidity,” he said. […]

In June, the company lent more than 2 million pounds. As a sign of its increasing legitimacy, it is seeing more and more deals referred through independent financial advisers and private wealth managers, with clients taking out loans on expensive watches, cars and art to finance other investments.

“I won’t deny that we have customers for whom it is lender of last resort and distressed lending, but the majority of people who come to us are not desperate,” Aitken said. “If you’ve got a Rolex, are you desperate?”

Banks Not Lending? You Can Always Pawn Your Picasso (CNBC)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Christie’s Hong Kong Sales Cycle = $319mChristie’s Hong Kong Sales Cycle = $319m
  • Featured in Record Setting Auction, Hirst Spin Painting Tests His Market at Phillips This WeekFeatured in Record Setting Auction, Hirst Spin Painting Tests His Market at Phillips This Week
  • Carnegie Museum Buys 80% of Its Own ShowCarnegie Museum Buys 80% of Its Own Show
  • India Loosens Up to Its PastIndia Loosens Up to Its Past
  • Deutsche Bank Expands Art Collection by 50%Deutsche Bank Expands Art Collection by 50%
  • Van Gogh Kept in Mellon Home for 58 Years Goes on Display at National GalleryVan Gogh Kept in Mellon Home for 58 Years Goes on Display at National Gallery

Filed Under: Economic Trends

About Marion Maneker

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

Top Posts

  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • British Modernists Draw Deep Bidding in Christie's $42 M. London Sales
  • $10 M. Picasso Portrait Unseen for Decades to Sell at Bonhams
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Roy Lichtenstein’s Top Ten Auction Prices
  • Miami Sales Report 2015
  • About Us/ Contact
  • David Bowie Talks About Art (with Julian Schnabel)
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor