Sculptural Collection: Swords Going Forward with Money

The most expensive works in the world are not oil paintings, ceramics, jades, or diamonds, but contemporary sculptures.

In February 2010, at the Sotheby’s auction house in London, a bronze sculpture “Walking Man” by the international sculpture master Giacometti made a price of 65 million pounds, equivalent to 104.3 million U.S. dollars, which refreshed Picasso’s paintings The boy with a pipe created a record of 104.2 million U.S. dollars worth of auctions, making it the world's most expensive work of art. This is evident in the international collection of sculptures.

In recent years, in the European and American markets, sculptures with an auction price of more than US$20 million have become commonplace, which is not inferior to painting artworks. With the rising auction price of sculptures, many foreign investors began to pay attention to Chinese sculptures and acquired sculpture artworks at a low price.

In China, the sculpture market has only just started. Compared to Chinese paintings, ceramics, and other works of art, the sculpture collection can be said to be an upset.

Famous masterpieces are sought after

The earliest sculpture entered the Chinese auction market in 1995. It has been placed in auctions with oil paintings. The market performance was tepid.

There is such a set of data: From May 1995 to December 2006, there were 793 sculptures sold by more than 220 auction companies in China, of which 540 were auctioned with a total turnover of approximately RMB 136 million. This is clearly a world away from paintings and porcelain that are frequently used for millions or billions of yuan. However, since 2006, sculptures have gradually separated from the camp of oil paintings and have received increasing attention from collectors.

2007 seems to be a turning point in Chinese sculpture. In that year, the sculptor Zhu Ming's bronze sculpture “Tai Chi—Big Tactics” (two pieces) produced an astronomical price of HK$14 million at Christie's Hong Kong, setting an auction record for contemporary Chinese sculpture.

Subsequently, domestic auctions were also reported in frequent successes. In 2007, during the autumn photography ceremony of the "image sculpture" in Beijing, the late artist Zhang Dehua's "Deng Xiaoping Statue" shot a high price of RMB 1,113,200. In April 2008, the sculptor Sui Jianguo's work "The Clothes" was sold for 1.84 million yuan. In the same year, the sculpture “Rainbow” that young sculptors wrote to Beijing in 2006 appeared on the spring of Beijing Qi Shichun. The price was 2.86 million yuan at the time, and Zhou Chunya’s “Green Dog” also won RMB3.8 million in Taipei Zhongcheng.

For the sculpture market in the last two years, You Yong, the deputy general manager of the auction at the time of the auction, said in an interview with reporters: “Sculptures are particularly good in the past two years, and they are almost 100%. The most sought after collectors are famous masterpieces. Xiang Jing, Wang Keping, Sui Jianguo and other domestic first-class sculptors." From the perspective of the auction market, the overall market conditions are more gluttonous, less good, and less demanding, while the demand is constantly expanding.

More suitable for long-term investment

Although the sculpture gradually heats up, but the overall market has not yet formed a climate, belonging to the scarcity of art categories.

The sculptor told the reporter to Beijing: “Sculpture collection has never formed a special group in China. One of the main reasons is that artists are too few because the cost of sculpture technology, facilities, and space are too high, and it is difficult to follow up on talent.” According to reports, at present, there are only two or three hundred true professional sculptors in China. Not only do they have fewer sculptors, but their output is small. Unlike sculptures and other arts, sculptures are time consuming, laborious, and cumbersome. Some sculptors only create 35 works a year.

According to analysis by industry insiders, most domestic collectors are pursuing short-term appreciation as the first goal. They will concentrate their funds on buying artworks that have already started in the market. The sculpture market needs at least five or six years of development time, and naturally there are no Popular artwork appreciates quickly. However, this also indicates its potential and is more suitable for long-term investment.

In addition, compared with sculptures, oil paintings, Chinese paintings and ceramics and other works of art, the price of sculpture is the lowest and it is the easiest to intervene.

In all art categories, sculpture is the most decorative and can be appreciated while sitting in the home. For some newly recruited collectors, it is advisable to pay attention to young sculptors because they have a certain reputation in society, but the price is not very expensive. As you learn more about sculpture, you can lock in the same series of works of your favorite artist and make a systematic and sustainable collection.

Of course, if the amount of funds is sufficient, it is best to pay attention to the works of those popular sculptors. First, their works represent the highest level of domestic sculpture, and appreciate rapidly; second, the prices of works are comparable, and the market operation is relatively mature. Easy to use.

The sculptor told the majority of collectors in Beijing: “The collection of sculptures is the same as the collection of other works of art. There are only good arts and bad arts, and there is no distinction between categories. Sculpture collections should also be very personal. In addition to learning the history of art, it is important Still have their own feelings, simply say it is like, like love, that is the highest realm."

Hidden Dragons to finance new tools

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One of my friends, Xiao Yan, is an Taobao master pawn shop. She began to talk to me about this concept. I didn't quite accept it. It seems that I didn't go shopping in the pawnshop. When friends brought me into a pawn shop, I saw a row of gold and silver jewellery, jade bracelets, a variety of high-end watches, yellow and gold coin bars, and many types of digital products. I was surprised. Here the price is at least 10% cheaper than the market price, some diamond rings are only half the market price, digital products are only 3% off or even lower, and jade jewelry is 4-6 fold. Such as a market price of more than 50,000 yuan diamond ring, sold here only about 30,000 yuan, a price of 2150 yuan in the market price of platinum necklace with more than 3,000 yuan. Xiao Yan said that more and more young people are now buying the best gold products.

Xiao Yan, on the other hand, took me to the side and told me some Taobao tips for readers to share: First, before Taobao, we must pay attention to selecting the three licenses ("Pawn Business License", "Special Industry License" and "Business License"). Complete pawn shops with good brand qualifications. Each pawnshop has its own specialty business, such as some of the fist products are gold and silver jewelry, some are jade bracelets, some are high-end watches, some are digital products, must go to the corresponding pawn shop Taobao Taobao expertise; Second, in advance to understand the purchase The market price of the item is well known. Once the price is found to be appropriate, it is necessary to act promptly to avoid missed opportunities. The third best time to choose the right Taobao is usually around major holidays, when the items are rich and there will be discount promotions.