Art Prices Record

The art market has lived through the stock-market crash in 2000, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the 2003 Iraq War. The impact on art sales has been dramatic. Whereas 16,000 fine-art sales were catalogued in 2000 , there were fewer than 10,000 in 2004. Given the economic context, art pricesshould fall. This is what happened in 1991, when demand contracted. However, the key art market players - auctioneers, dealers and galleries - have adopted a new approach. They carefully filtered supply by rigorously selecting art for sale to stop a free fall in prices. Now, strong demand, plus scarcity in supply has spurred prices (+18% in 2004 in the US). Today, prices are back to 1990 record highs. For the full story - click the title Irish Art