Indeed, you were quite clear about your theme: fund-based art investments as a form of socially responsible investing. Unfortunately, governmental securities regulations here in the USA preclude me from commenting on personal involvement in your noteworthy topic. By the way, Europe seems to be leading the way in the formation of tangible investment funds

I urge you and any readers to purchase/read a most authoritative academic text (wonderfully annotated) I have encountered dealing with the broad investment concepts at work in the “traditional hobbies” of collecting fine items: “Collectible Investments for The High Net Worth Investor,” Stephen Satchell, Academic Press, 2009. Stephen is, amoungst many roles, the Reader in Financial Econometrics at Trinity Colledge, Cambridge.

Thank you for your kind reply. I do hope that we might get more participants.

As your case shows, these collections can become investments in the truest sense of the word: as a repository to save pieces for the future. Moreover, some of our finest museums have either grown out of large personal collections or have been the beneficiaries of major gifts of this kind.

I suggest art funds for the beginning ‘pure investor’ because this would be the simplest way to generate a financial return on art. People who have both investment and collecting motives are likely to want to buy artwork themselves, but there is a big learning curve to knowing about some of the price movements and rules of value construction. (Beginners in this area should probably take a look at Olav Velthuis’ book Talking Prices.) One major caveat is that contemporary art galleries do not like short term investors or ‘flippers’ and may do things like refusing to sell additional works to people who get a reputation for this behavior. This is because they are trying to build the long term careers of their artists, and price volatility can create problems.

As a side note- have you been to the finance museum in New York? It is a must-see for everyone interested in financial history. I have been hoping to find a museum of this kind in London as well, but so far have not found anything of this nature.

My collection was/is born of the appreciation for the intaglio art of reflecting commerce/agricultural, political, architectural, etc. reflections of the times (centuries past) when the currency and stock/bond certificates were produced. While I deployed investment techniques in the hobbyist pursuit, it has always been my motivation to: 1.) custodian all items for future generations to enjoy, and 2.) incrementally enhance each item by fitting it into a mosaic of choices, “correlation and integration” if I might borrow the terms, so that my individual collection style would add some artistic, historical and cultural perspectives to the items.

The ultimate “RoI’ here has been the thousands of hours of joy my pursuits have brought me. The lifetime fulfillment,though,has turned out to be the return, volatility and correlation attributes, and the preservationist satisfaction of knowing that generations which will not know physical financial media will pass it forward.”

It seems to me that I have both satisfied myself and others to come. For me, collecting artwork is socially responsible