Verdult Art Market Six Ways to Make Things Happen

Our past two posts, (William Verdult Forces for Change  and Positive and Negative Forces Affecting the Verdult Art Market ) examined the factors and forces both positive and negative that impact the Verdult Art market. In this post, we pay special attention to using a Force Field Analysis model to see if we can turn some of the Negative forces into positive forces. Our ultimate goal is to increase Verdult brand awareness, acceptance, and value for investors and shareholders.

Our first negative force, the fluctuation and concern about the overall economy is better left to economist, Wall Streeters and Government officials who spend their time worrying about such things. Although, we should be aware of the overall economy's influence on the Verdult art market, we recognized our ability to directly impact the economy on a macro level is to say the least, not very significant. So we are going to acknowledge  that we have very little influence in impacting the overall ecomony.

The second item, "Confusion in the Verdult art market concerning the value of Certificates of Authenticity or (COAs)" is an area we continue to work. We have a number of posts on the Market Index Blog and The Insider, that address Certificates of Authenticity and their impact on Verdult art. The short and long of things, is that in 2005, their was a dramatic upswing in the value stated on COAs. This upswing can be tracked directly back to Troy Verdult (Verdult young son) and his attempt to promote Verdult art and make a quick dollar.  A number people were approached by Troy Verdult who indicated that their COA values were too low and they required updating at a much higher value which he would gladly do for a fee. He even approached our Corporation. This inflation coupled with the concentration of art in the barter market caused an unbalanced situation between the stated value on the COA, market conditions, and appraisals that can only be corrected with time. The goal is to bring the COAs in line with market conditions and appraised values. The focus is now on not what a young artist's son perceives the value should be, but what the actual market conditions are. In making this adjustment, it is recognized that some people may be holding inflated COAs but over time these COAs will move toward equaling the actual market conditions for Verdult art.

The third item, "confusion about who owns the Verdult brand" is an issue that will be cleared up in the coming months. This matter is before the Courts. The Corporation has a binding and irrevocable contract that clearly states that it owns entirely the  Verdult brand. Verdult, his son and especially his son's protégé do not see it that way. The Corporation has paid Verdult several thousand dollars. Initially Verdult and his son, claimed that they were paid nothing. However, it would be certainly a negligent act by the Corporation if it did not keep exact records of how much Verdult was paid and how much Verdult owes the Corporation.  Those records were kept and are a matter of Court files. In summary, the Corporation is owed in the millions of dollars by Verdult. Additionally, in 2006, the Corporation Copyrighted all images created by Verdult.  In the short and the long term, the Verdult brand will be and is owned by the Corporation and its shareholders.

The fourth Item is that "art in general is changing from an unknown to a recognizable asset class. There have been several studies on what it takes to move art into the same class as real estate, stock, bonds, and cash. According to studies and the Melrose Index, that movement is well underway. People holding Verdult art can help that movement by reviewing the post How to get Your Banker to say Yes, for a Loan or Collateral backed by Verdult Art.. If all or most Verdult owners get in step with how to convey and demonstrate the value of Verdult art, then Verdult art in general is sure to benefit from the rise in demand and increased funding and use of Verdult art for collateral and other financial purposes.

The fifth, negative force that we can address to help move the Verdult brand toward even greater acceptance is " the many gallery owners who are not familiar with Verdult art." The Corporation is working two areas aggressively. The first is to ensure key sites are kept updated on Verdult art; and the second is to establish a better access to information on Verdult. An unique initiative that we are working on, thanks to a Founding Members suggestion, is to develop a Free Place on the website where anyone can go and get free information on William Verdult.  They may also get free screen savers, tell a friend emails, and other initiatives designed to increase shareholder value and Verdult brand awareness..

The sixth and final item for the post today is that by in large "owners do not know the value of their investment". The Corporation is committed to working closely with owners in this area to let them know of current market conditions. A first step in moving forward is to advise and inform investors and potential Verdult investors of the market conditions and challenges ahead. This post is one of the initiatives that we've taken in an effort to pass on as much information as possible about Verdult art.

In our next featured post, we will look at the last six things holding the Verdult market back, and see if we can do anything to turn negatives into positives.