Food for thought - Bridgepoint Capital

MAKING THE MOSTTHE POINT guideAnd so to bidBidding at auction can befast, furious and slightlyfrightening. Clare Robertsexplains how to do it properlyThe search for high-yielding investmentshas prompted a growing interestin auction houses. Investors hope thatproducts bid for in an auction willprovide them with a diversified portfolioand a bit of excitement. And there aresome enticing examples of fabulousreturns in the market.In 1970, publishing magnate MalcolmForbes began to collect Victorian art,which was relatively unfashionable atthe time. One of his first purchases wasGoodbye on the Mersey by Tissot. He paid£2,520 in 1970 and sold it for £831,650last February.ALandseer hunting scenewhich cost Forbes £187,000 in 1983 wasrecently sold for £1.27 million, anauction record for the artist. Victorianart is now in demand and Forbes hasbenefited handsomely.New funds are being created specificallytobuy art asan investment and a number ofacademic studies have been produced thatanalyse pricing trends and compare themwith other investments. But however usefulthese studies may be as aguide they are nosubstitute for detailed knowledge built upby experience.It is very important to get the necessaryinformation before buying art andantiques at any level. First, talk to expertsin the field. The auction business is basedon trust so it is in specialists’ interest toguide buyers and sellers honestly and forthe long-term. A buyer now is a seller intwenty years’ time, so relationships arevery important.When it comes to auction tactics, thequality and provenance of a work is critical.Whether buying an Impressionistpainting or football memorabilia, researchinto quality, background and the positionof the piece in the market is key.You donot need tospend hundreds of thousandsof pounds to make a good value purchasethat might turn into asolid investment.The major auction houses offer morethan 80 different collecting categories –from Old Master paintings and ModernArt to wine, cars and silver ships. But,whatever the category, the mostfrequently asked question is – whatmakes one work priceless and anotherworth only a couple of hundred pounds?Value is established by such criteria asthe creator of the piece, its previousowner and its condition. In the end,however, it comes down to supply anddemand. Estimates printed in saleroomcatalogues are merely guidelines. Thefinal price only emerges once theauctioneer’s hammer has come down.Many works have proved they canmaintain their appeal in financial as well asaesthetic terms. But buyers should first andforemost bid for what they love, want tolivewith and will enjoy – no matter what.Clare Roberts works for Christie’sTeam playerDuring a tidy-upthe other week, Icame across the deadremnants of my veryfirst mobile phone.Whilst not exactlythe 80s brick thatMichael Douglasuses in the filmWall Street , it wascertainly achunky pieceof kit – and allit could dowas make andreceive calls.By contrast,my current sleekAny gadget freak worthy of the name knows thatiPods are so last century. Tim Brown explainshandset, a Treo 600, is a phone, anorganiser, an emailer, a web browser, agames machine, a digital camera, a voicerecorder, an mp3 player and even anemergency torch. Frankly,anyone whosemobile is just a phone today is stranded inthe Dark Age.Similarly, it is slightly bizarre thatpeople are still interested in buying thingslike the iPod, even in its latest, smallestincarnation, the Shuffle. A few years ago,I admit, a product like the Shuffle wouldhave had me drooling. But now it’s just anmp3 player, albeit a good one. MeanwhilePalmOne are releasing a new Treo, the650. This improves on the 600 bydoubling the screen resolution, addingBluetooth and a removable battery.Thememory is non-volatile, so data will beretained even if the battery is completelydrained. For music lovers, since both the600 and 650 have a slot for special (securedigital) memory cards, you can have up to1Gb of mp3s available at any one time,giving you ten hours of portable music.There were some issues with the qualityof the 600 model but early reports on the650 would seem to indicate that theseproblems have been addressed. For theultimate in convergence the 650 willaccept a global positioning system (GPS)module in its SD slot. This even comeswith specialist software for golfers,capable of accurately assessing coursedistances – and, of course, you can listen tomusic while you play...Tim Brown is managing director of Imperfect Pictures20 THE POINT