Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

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

Philip Hoffman Talks His Book in Basel, Claims $500m in Art Assets By End of Year

June 20, 2014 by Marion Maneker

Hoffman detail

The Fine Art Fund doesn’t report its results publicly but that isn’t stopping its chief, Philip Hoffman from trying to tip his hand. Katya Kazakina’s farewell piece from ArtBasel includes what has recently become a common feature of her reporting, Hoffman announcing his results. Not only does the art fund head claim that his firm will manage half a billion dollars in art assets by the end of the year—note the artful phrasing because in other reports Hoffman suggests the firm has moved away from running an art fund toward providing art advisory services to Gulf State clients—but he also tells Kazakina that he made $1.2m profit on a Christopher Wool painting he bought in 2007 (the peak of the previous market) and sold in 2012:

Walking through the fair on opening day, Hoffman said he was alerted that another buyer was interested in an artwork the fund had agreed to purchase earlier that morning. By the end of the day Hoffman resold the work to the new buyer.

“We made 10 percent on the deal,” he said, declining to name the artist or reveal the price. “We never paid for the work. We just netted the profit.”

Hoffman, who started the company in 2001, said he consigned several works to dealers at Art Basel, selling almost $5 million worth of art and averaging compound gains of 10 percent to 20 percent.

Most of the art the fund acquires is valued at $1 million to $10 million, Hoffman said.

Billionaires at Basel Bet Art Better Investment Than Cash (Businessweek)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Warhol Foundation Sale = $17mWarhol Foundation Sale = $17m
  • Surrealist Trove from Collection of Man Ray’s Assistant Lucien Treillard to Sell at Christie’sSurrealist Trove from Collection of Man Ray’s Assistant Lucien Treillard to Sell at Christie’s
  • Dear Occupy Museums, Stop Watching Bravo’s Work of Art
  • Seattle Fair Sales Benefit from Big Hitter SupportSeattle Fair Sales Benefit from Big Hitter Support
  • Auction Sales Up $56.6m at Sotheby’s in 2017 Driven by Imp, Mod & Cont Art GrowthAuction Sales Up $56.6m at Sotheby’s in 2017 Driven by Imp, Mod & Cont Art Growth
  • Art Basel Sales Strategies: Sell In Advance, Seed the Market or Roll the DiceArt Basel Sales Strategies: Sell In Advance, Seed the Market or Roll the Dice

Filed Under: Art Funds

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
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • Roy Lichtenstein’s Top Ten Auction Prices
  • Miami Sales Report 2015
  • The Billion-Dollar NYC Apartment of Ben Heller
  • Mapping a Career in the Art World
  • 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