| As there are secondary markets in the trade of | | | | the Vanity Fair that is art collecting. |
| goods or wares, there is a secondary market in the | | | | It is evident that the prudent art investor better |
| trade of art. The great difference is that art doesn't | | | | turns to the secondary market where value is |
| depreciate with age, even if subject to wear, and | | | | established and not arbitrary or ethereal. The |
| that prices on the secondary art market aren't | | | | secondary market implies that a certain time will have |
| determined by singular usability but by their universal | | | | passed between the act of creation and the present |
| desirability. What we understand by a primary and a | | | | proprietary transaction. This is of course not true in |
| secondary market in the art trade is important for | | | | all instances but can be used as a convenient rule. |
| our appreciation of the monetary value of a work of | | | | The artificial hype that may have been created |
| art. | | | | around the artist at the moment of his introduction |
| When an artwork comes to the market for the first | | | | to the art world, or during his ascendance in the |
| time at a gallery or any other art exhibition we speak | | | | same, or at his height, will in most cases have waned |
| about the primary market. This is the moment when | | | | or stabilized and there is room for a more neutral and |
| the price for the artwork is established for the first | | | | sober evaluation of the work itself. |
| time. The artist, or the gallery owner / dealer in | | | | But also for the art collector is the secondary market |
| conjunction with the artist, establish a selling price | | | | a safer bet. Though subject to the prevalent |
| based on art market indicators at the time of | | | | Zeitgeist, the secondary market is not so trendy and |
| presentation. As with any commodity market, the | | | | does not explore, to the same extent, the eventual |
| mechanism of "supply and demand" defines this | | | | momentary personal celebrity of an artist. Not dealing |
| pricing structure. | | | | with the artist is an expedient way ofnot getting |
| Once the artwork is purchased on the primary | | | | biased be his/hers personality or circumstances and |
| market and the buyer, whether a private collector, | | | | to focus on the work of art itself. Artists are |
| an institution or a dealer, decides to resell it, it enters | | | | moreover always unequal in their production and |
| the secondary market. Most items sold through | | | | often bad judges of their own work. In first instance, |
| auction houses form part of the secondary market, | | | | giving all one's attention to the individual work and to |
| as the artwork has already been purchased at least | | | | that work's precedent and aftermath, instead of to |
| once. Secondary market trade means trade in art | | | | the maker's person or ideas, is essential for sound |
| that is not coming directly from the artist. | | | | judgments on Art. |
| As in many other trades there is a great amount of | | | | Some actors on the art market would like to reserve |
| speculation in the commerce of art. Some prices | | | | the term secondary market for a highly specific trade |
| asked on the primary market inevitably raise | | | | in prints. The term is however far too useful to be |
| dubitative questions as to longevity. However, such | | | | limited to such specific usage as its logical |
| considerations matter little for the primary market's | | | | connotation, i.e. what is intuitively understood by the |
| dynamism; strongly sustained by marketing artifact, | | | | expression, is of particular importance to investors |
| sales technique, fashionable trends and not least, by | | | | and collectors alike. |