Collectors Raising Cash by Selling?

Roya Nikkhah, Arts Correspondent for The Telegraph UK is reporting that collectors are being forced to sell due to the tightening credit markets. Nikkhah states that many masterpieces will find there way to fine art sales in the coming months. The fine art will be sold during a downturn in the market, but it appears many collectors need to cash out portions of their collections and in doing so, perhaps not maximize all potential value. It appears the world financial and economic woes are hitting the wealthy, as they pursue avenues to increase liquidity, even in what many consider a slow market and not the time to sell.

Nikkhah states Works by artists including Amedeo Modigliani, Camille Pissarro, Oskar Kokoschka, Piet Mondrian and Edouard Vuillard - some of which have never before been seen at auction - are to be sold after many years in the hands of private collectors.

Art experts say that the global economic downturn is forcing some collectors to part with rare works and family heirlooms they can no longer afford to keep, even though the works are unlikely to reach their full sale potential as prices in the art market fall.

Nikkhah continues Dr Sarah Thornton, an art expert and the author of Seven Days in the Art World, said: "Anyone who puts up a masterpiece in this season needs the money, because the works are not going to realise what they would have done six months ago, or what they might do in three years time. Private collectors selling now are either distress-selling or they want the money to invest in something else."

Helena Newman, Sotheby's' vice-chairman of Impressionist and Modern Art Worldwide, said: "A lot of people are very distracted by the current economic climate and there is no doubt that putting works to sale in this climate is not going to be as easy as it was six months ago.

To read the Telegraph article, click HERE.