LOT-ART: an Auction Platform to Disrupt the Art Market

Fri Jul 06 2018

This article is featured on the Summer Edition of the Art & Museum Magazine, supplement for Family Office Magazine, a premier publication dedicated to the Family Office network.

Francesco Gibbi, CEO of Lot-Art.com, is interviewed by Etienne Verbist about the art market, the platform he created and how its finance-oriented art investment advisory can help collectors become art investors.

 

Why did you create the Lot-Art platform?

As an eclectic art collector, I buy at auction seeking the best opportunities among the auctions' catalogues around the world. I created Lot-Art.com with the intent to make worldwide auctioning more effective, transparent and time efficient for art buyers by providing three critical pieces of information:  Price, Place and Time of any auction sale worldwide. Lot-Art offers listings completely free of charge for bidders and for auction houses.

North Netherlandish School, circa 1600, sold at Dorotheum in April 2018

 

What exactly is Lot-Art?

Providing direct links to the most reputable auction houses & bidding platforms worldwide, Lot-Art has become the world’s largest auctions' browsing portal covering the full cycle of an auction from Upcoming to Sold and Aftersale.

The key advantage is that the user enjoys a comprehensive overview of the worldwide art market from a single portal.  The benefit of this is that the user avoids repetitive searches on different websites and saves precious time which is important for a collector seeking a wide range of artists, fashion brands, jewelry, watches and other valuable collection items

Lot-Art enables the collector to browse unsold auction lots in what is to date the largest Aftersalesection online, while in the Sold section, users can access important historical price information recorded at auction. This is a helpful comparable, showing the actual value of an item before finalizing a bid.
 
My vision is to create synergy and an efficient cluster of services for art collectors where they can find all they need to optimize their art investment experience:  a state of the art search engine combined with the world’s largest aggregator of art auctions, an efficient consignment service to auction houses and a competitive art investment advisory, all on one portal.

Furthermore, we will soon to provide art enthusiasts with superb content on the most interesting upcoming Auction sales, as well as the trendy events happening in the Art World in a timely fashion. Users should sign up to the Art & Auctions Blog to obtain alerts.

 

How do you differ from other auction aggregator sites?

First of all, the difference lies in the sheer volume of upcoming auction sales available for browsing.
 
Second, we have an intuitive advanced search, which hones down your options very quickly. For example, it's possible to add or exclude multiple words in the search line and to run up to 35 multiple keyword searches simultaneously. Moreover, these keywords can be saved as Personal Saved Searches to search across them in a single click.  Better still, you can then receive customized email alerts about the availability of new lots matching these keywords.
 
Third, Lot-Art is the only auctions aggregator following the full life cycle of a lot from Upcoming to Sold and Aftersale, enabling users to browse unsold lots in what is also the largest Aftersale database online.
 
Finally, listing on Lot-Art is free of charge for auction houses as we do not implement a pay-per-click policy unlike our competitors. 

 

How do you create interaction with your audience?

Interaction is fostered through our search engine which allows a direct link to the auction lot page, or by creating wish lists of favorite lots and saved searches. Users can also make enquiries to the art galleries and auction houses listed on the site.

The new consignment service will facilitate the interaction of collectors to auctions even further as it will show how art can be also a liquid asset when purchased at the right price (lower than the primary market that is).
 
The link between the three sections (Ucoming, Sold, Aftersale) enables added interaction and also transparency of pricing through the ability to see past sale data.

Milo Manara, Hommage a Botticelli, sold at Artcurial in May 2018

 

How does LOT-ART help collectors spot a great buy in the art market?

I was informed by an investor recently that Lot-Art had proved a very cost-effective tool to assist him with adding to his collection during his search. He was searching a specialized area and was able to find a particular piece below market value.
 
This shows that there are still many investment opportunities to be found at auction where sourcing and acquiring quality artifacts to add to a collection, a residential project or to address their personal strategy of portfolio investment diversification. We help find their favourite artworks, enabling them to make a good investment opportunity for both preserving the capital investment and making a profit.
 
Lot-Art’s ultimate goal is to stimulate the investment strategy of art collectors and to introduce them to new genres and types of art related investments. They will add to their assets from a financial perspective with the objective to get a return on the investment, but it is also about acquiring the history, the beauty and the ownership of an art piece and the education process that goes with that. 

I am a collector too and I have found that the best investment should bring something more fulfilling than merely adding to my capital, it is about aesthetic pleasure and pride of ownership, plus sharing special works of art with friends and family.
 
I think this quote sums up my perspective and my mission in creating Lot-Art:

Art collecting is an investment and follows similar rules to most common financial products, but it is just more rewarding in terms of the emotional investment and carries less volatility provided proper diversification strategies are followed. 

For example, to spread the risk to include contemporary art, watches, jewelery and old masters. Auctions are the best source of good deals to any collector looking for alternative investment opportunities. Don’t buy what you don’t know; expertise is the winning word in the art investing business.”

 

Buying a piece of art is therefore a great choice for any investor looking for alternative investment opportunities. Proposing a financial approach to art collecting, Lot-Art assists both new and experienced collectors in acquiring at the best price quality artworks within a strategy of investment portfolio diversification.

Lot-Art is the best tool for a cost-effective investment decision-making in any form of valuable assets. With its Art Investment Advisory service, Lot-Art selects the best investments tailored to individual taste, budget, risk profile and financial objectives (capital conservation or short term speculative), assuring the artworks will carry a substantial price gap with the primary market to guarantee the highest degree of liquidity and opportunity of return on investment.

We are working to create a great online community, acting as an aggregator with the aim of facilitating the cost-effective investment in art and valuable collectibles. 

 

Francesco Gibbi with Etienne Verbist at BRAFA 2018

 

 The full interview is available on the Family Office Art & Museum Magazine at the following link: https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/cf7a10_db9ca71c7d864d209f7e5d8932d13f7d.pdf

 

The LOT-ARTeam

LOT-ART | Worldwide Auctioning Made Easy

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