Mei Moses Art Index Releases 2009 Results

The results are not good for 2009, showing an overall decline from 2008 of 23.49%.  With every sector showing losses and surprisingly led by the old master sector with a decline of just over 30%.   Many reports over the past year were that old masters declined less than the other sectors and had much more stability.  Post war and contemporary was not far behind at over 29% decline.

Most of the declines can be reasonably expected as the turnaround and stabilization did not really come until the 4th quarter of 2009.  In all honesty, I was expecting to see declines for 2009, but just not as severe as what Mei Moses is reporting.  A possible explanation,  the top end of the market is performing better, but the middle markets are still rather sluggish which could have an influence on the index.

The Mei Moses indexes are:

• Closing Value of Mei Moses® All Art Index for 2009: 204.3 Percentage Change from Year 2008 Closing Values of Mei Moses® All Art Index: Down 23.49%

• Latin America Index: Down 8.41%

• American Before 1950 Index: Down 12.16%

• Impressionist and Modern Index: Down 10.07%

• Old Master and 19th Century Index: Down 30.11%

• Post War and Contemporary Index: Down 29.88%