MANH January 2012 : Page 58
strICtLY busINess above: the Winston group’s elizabeth Von habsburg describes the firm as “a sort of patient advocate for our clients.” right: aon’s Nikki brown specializes in insuring big-ticket artwork. …continued getting deals done. “As As global art-market more and more money and collectors prices have come in, the deal-making has become more byzantine,” says the New York– continued a steady march north, the based collector. For Winston Art Group—formed old-guard of the just two years ago and already the largest independent art-advisory and appraisal art-collecting world company in the U.S., with offices in seems to have been New York, Los Angeles and Boston—it gripped by a spate has all led to a bull market. “Our job is to be a sort of patient advocate for our of mudslinging and clients,” says Elizabeth Von Habsburg, weird introspection. Winston’s managing director. “At the high end of the market, collectors are far more sophisticated than in the past. But you’d be amazed at how many who have billions of dollars don’t do the due diligence when buying expensive art.” Even savvy buyers need help in tracking the global art market. “It’s easy for a specialist like me to sell a masterpiece. It’s far more difficult now to sell an average piece at an average price,” says Loic Gouzer, senior vice president and international specialist for Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Department. “Everyone wants something great. Serious collectors today need to be on the ball almost 24 hours a day and 365 days a year to not miss opportunities.” Companies like Winston are often a high-end collector’s first stop to secure lusted-after artwork, assess prices, structure deals, trace provenance or sniff out counterfeits. The firm employs specialists in everything from samurai swords to old masters, and works with clients to determine the best financial packages for purchases or sales, and the best places to get them done. Winston’s wealthiest clients are increasingly veering toward private deals—no surprise in an era of Wall Street occupations and “Shoot the one percent” bumper stickers. “With the economy so volatile, there are a lot of high-net-worth clients who don’t want to be seen spending a huge amount of money at auction,” says Von Habsburg. “Private sales are much more discreet.” This shift in perception is not lost on the big three auction houses. “Auction is a peculiarly public forum in which to offer art works for sale,” says Zach Miner, head of the contemporary-art evening sales for Phillips de Pury. “Every season we’re judged on whether we’ve sold 90 percent of our lots or whether our estimates were right on target. All of those mechanisms that are happening on a private level are under the public lens with us.” Appraisers like Winston Art Group are rarely alone in evaluating work presale. A relatively new breed of art-savvy insurance providers also gets pulled into the conversation. “In this market, we get involved with a potential purchase right at the start,” says Nikki Brown, regional director and global fine art practice leader of Aon Private Risk Management, a highly specialized, 5-year-old division of the world’s largest insurance broker. Looking to insure that impulse-buy $135 million Gustav Klimt? Your local Geico rep isn’t going to cut it. Brown and her team of art experts—all of them veterans of Christie’s or Sotheby’s—structure deals with insurers such as Axa or Lloyd’s of London that trade in the high-end art market. Aon conducts title searches to make sure a piece isn’t stolen. They instruct clients on how to display and protect art in ways that will mitigate risk. And, most 58 | | Jan/Feb 2012
Publication List
Using a screen reader? Click Here