Invest in Our Culture

Yes, I'm back. Three posts in twenty-four hours. I've been busy.

This one's just a quickie though. I recently read back the post where I discussed buying shares in paintings. (See here: Note to Self: Buy Shares in Stonehenge). And it occurred to me that I hadn't really fleshed out that idea fully.

It would work like this. There's some kind of stock market where people can buy and sell shares in paintings and other pieces of art.

So, a gallery may sell shares in one of its pieces. Let's say they own the Mona Lisa. They want to raise funds, but don't want to sell the entire painting. They very much want to keep it. So they sell (let's say) 10% of it to the public on this stock market. This way they keep the painting, but also raise capital.

The people buying get to own a fraction of the painting. Which they can sell again just as easily on this public stock market. As with standard shares.

They get the satisfaction of owning part of a piece of art they're fond of, and can potentially make money from that too. However, the idea is also nice in a wider sense as well.

For example, they could buy a cheap copy of the painting and hang it on their front room wall. So they get to enjoy having the painting (a copy, but essentially the same image) and get the satisfaction of knowing they own a slice of the real thing. Meanwhile the original would be safely housed in the gallery (or in some other place of storage). With the money they've invested helping to pay for that storage. Again, think the gallery needing money to house and protect the Mona Lisa, and raising that by selling 10% of it.

Consider what a great gift such a thing would make too. It is Mother's Day today after all. Imagine your mother is a big fan of Pre-Raphaelite artwork. You could buy her a framed picture or poster (depending on taste and decor) of a Rossetti work, along with £100 of the actual real thing.

(Pia de' Tolomei - Dante Gabriel Rossetti)

Obviously, what reminded me of this topic was the recent destruction of the Lord Balfour painting by pro-Palestinian activists. We've seen similar acts from environmentalist groups. The way things are going paintings might need more protection and you might get a few bargains.