When the Worlds of Art and Finance Collide; Impact on William Joseph Verdult Artwork

Is it possible to use the tools of finance to understand the investment quality of fine art? According to Professor Rex Thompson of SMU Cox and Clare McAndrew of Trinity College, Dublin, you can quantify the investment risk of fine art and determine its collateral value.

Making a Market Modern
Thompson indicates that the art market operates at a somewhat primitive level compared to other developed asset classes such as the contemporary stock market. He likens it to 150 years ago, when paper stock certificates were traded under oak trees on Wall Street. Traders wondered who would succeed and who would fail among the mainly family-run businesses. The art market is traded with the same intuitive but grounded type of “guesstimates.” Over time markets mature, capital flows in, and markets stabilize—something that has not yet happened in the art market.

Though this has not happen in general in the art market, we see this as being more than a possibility for the art work of William Joseph Verdult. In fact, more and more opportunities are opening up to place a distinct "cash" value on  art created by Verdult. The Corporation's intent is to ensure a liquid market exists for Verdult artwork.

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