Art Market Blog – How I Doubled My Money Overnight !!!

Art Market Blog – How I Doubled My Money Overnight !!!

Yesterday morning (Wednesday 13th Feb) I visited the 20×200 website which I visit every Wednesday (and Tuesday) because on each of these days of two days every week a new limited edition print is released for sale. For those of you not familiar with the 20×200 website introduces two new pieces a week: one photo and one work on paper. Each image is available in three sizes.* The smallest size is reprinted in the largest batch – an edition of 200 – and sold at the lowest price – $20. They also offer bigger prints for bolder collectors – medium-sized editions of 20 for $200, and large-sized editions of 2 generally for $2000 (some of the large sized editions will actually be original pieces of art and prices will vary a bit). Every single print is delivered with a certificate of authenticity numbered by the artist.

Yesterday’s release of the amazing work titled ‘Drawing’ by the talented Jacob Macgraw appealed to me as soon as I saw. I started doing the usual research on the artist that I always do before making a purchase but with 80 of the edition already sold I knew that I had to make a quick decision. While I was checking out the vital stats the prints continued to sell like hot cakes to the point where the number of prints still available continued to go down before my very eyes, peaking at a rate of sale of a couple every minute. Considering that each print in the edition of 200 (hence the name 20×200) only costs $20, my research checked out and the edition would soon be sold out I didn’t have to think twice about making the purchase. By four o’clock that afternoon (Sydney, Australia time) the entire edition of 200 was sold, one of which was to me.

Not only had I purchased a fantastic work of art but by my calculations the value of my investment had doubled in a matter of eight hours making me a very happy art collector. You may be wondering how I can know that the work doubled in value, well, the reasons that I predict that this print has doubled in value are:

1. The whole edition sold out causing the desirability of the work to increase dramatically.

2. Because the edition sold out on the primary market, any subsequent sale will be on the secondary market and should thus automatically attract a higher price.

3. The edition sold out so quickly proving that this particular work is highly desirable and that demand for Jacob Macgraw’s work is very high.

4. $20 for a signed print from an edition of 200 that comes with a certificate of authenticity is amazingly good value to begin with

To get double the amount I paid for this work I would have to be able sell this work for the grand total of $40 which from my experience would not be a difficult task. This scenario just goes to show that successful art investment isn’t as hard as many people think.

**Nicholas Forrest is an art market analyst, art critic and journalist based in Sydney, Australia. He is the founder of artmarketblog.com, writes the art column for the magazine Antiques and Collectibles for Pleasure and Profit and contributes to many other publications.

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