Art Indices and Futures Trading

The Financial Times is reporting Dublin based Intrade has begun offering future contracts on the art market based upon the Mei-Moses All Art Index. The FT reports "The move is part of a trend for art to be viewed as an asset class, with the development of art funds and art prices indices."

The FT articles continues "The evidence on how the art market tracks financial markets is mixed. Art prices have continued to rise strongly in the past year even as the credit crisis has caused big losses in the fixed income and stock markets. The Mei Moses index is based on repeat sales of artworks rather than average prices."

Future contracts on art prices is not really that surprising, given the amount of money being invested in art, and now with the Mei-Moses art indices, there is a reliable and sophisticated manner of tracking market prices.

For those of you not familiar with the Mei-Moses Art Index, or Beautiful Asset Advisors as the website is called, click HERE to visit the site. It is an excellent resource for the fine art appraiser, and a sophisticated valuation tool. I have used it on several occasions, and when taken with other appraisal valuation methodologies, it is an excellent resource in determining growth in value.

To read the Financial Times article, click HERE.