• buy wisely
• sell wisely
• take care regarding authentication

2. Watch out for bargains! If a work fails to sell at auction (or at successive art fairs), the market will consider it ‘burned’. This can result in a potential purchase at a reduced price – but be prepared to hold on to it for a while before returning it to the market.

3. Market fluctuations for one artist can often affect the market for another, related artist. Knowledge of art movements and art history will enable a better understanding. For example, a drop in Warhol value may pave the way for a drop in value of Basquiats.

4. Value is not only found in the artist, but in the quality of a given work. Buy the best you can afford, always. Find a good art advisor you can trust.

5. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is! If a work fails to sell at auction or successive fairs, the market will consider it ‘burned’.

6. Look for alternatives. Decorative art perhaps? Chinese porcelain, for instance, is a good option.

7. Calculate – and write down – possible profits or losses for an investment, and compare them. For example; Canaletto and Warhol. Expert Fabian Bocart predicted that a Canaletto could increase in value 36%, or decrease 1%, over ten years. A Warhol could increase 52% or decrease 71% in value over the same period.

8. Buy low, sell high. As with all investment, art can change dramatically. Specific artists go in and out of favour however the art market is generally performing.

9. Keep an open mind and think global. Chinese contemporary art is currently popular and, not so long ago, there was significant interest in Pakistani and Indian art. New art continues to come from the Middle East, Iran and Iraq, the so called ‘emerging markets’. Or, at least, the discovery of it is ‘emerging’.

10. Primary markets – buying new art by young artists. In one sense, this can be the riskiest: the vast majority of these artists never really make it. Many will though. Your discovery could be the next big thing!