Judd Tully on New York Contemporary Sales

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The Master, Judd Tully, imparts some wisdom to Arttactic’s Adam Green in this podcast. One idea that Green comes back to again and again is the fact that the Dow Jones Index dropped nearly 400 points the day of the Sotheby’s sale.

But that combination of events is exactly evidence of art being viewed as an asset. Journalists often confuse the stock market with a piggy bank. They assume that a fall in equity prices reduces the stock of money available to purchase art. Stock shares, however, are claims on future profits. If the Dow falls and investors decide not to put their cash into the equities market, it is sign they they don’t expect future returns.

If the Dow falls and buyers bid up works of art, we can only conclude that they saw the art as a better use of their money. We should, however, let go of the idea that a sharp drop in the price of equities is an prima facie loss of buying power.

One other interesting point that Tully makes is the limited interest in Warhol works–which may have temporarily peaked a year ago–especially the silver Liz purchase by Laurence Graff.