Hi
Welcome to Cultural Assets Insider for March 9th, 2022 – FREE Edition. Each week we give you the scoop on undervalued, mispriced and hidden gems in Alternative Investing.
Table of Contents
But first, check out our podcast
In this episode, Horacio spoke with Arlan Ettinger, the President and Founder of Guernsey’s – an auction house in Manhattan with a history of high-profile collections. They will be auctioning off the Elizabeth Meaders Collection, the world’s largest private collection of African-American artifacts, on March 15th at 2 PM ET.
You can read more about the collection and find our special podcast with Elizabeth herself at the end of this newsletter.
Cultural Assets performance in 2022
Cultural assets may have finally found a bottom on fractional marketplaces like Rally and Otis, but it’s probably too early to tell. That said, we’re seeing a similar pattern across other asset classes on those platforms.
Last Week in Cultural Assets
Fractional secondary markets
Music was up big after a disappointing week prior, while everything else was flattish to down. It feels like the market wants to capitulate.
Auctions
Last week, we were watching the Only Banksy auction from Forum in London.
Unsurprisingly, the collection’s most iconic work, Girl with Balloon, had the highest hammer price at £100,000 ($132k), right in the middle of the £80k to £120k estimates.
I Fought the Law, No Ball Games, and my favorite CND Soldiers, all finished below expectations, while all the other lots were in range.
Difficult to say what was responsible for the poor showing (auction houses tend to put estimates a bit low so they can brag about how all their lots beat expectations). It could have been nerves around the war in Ukraine, a sudden flight of capital from London (also due to Ukraine), or perhaps a softening in demand for Banksy.
This Week in Cultural Assets
Fractional IPOs
Just the one fractional IPO this week.
‘78 KENNER STAR WARS LUKE SKYWALKER ACTION FIGURE
- Market Cap: $17,500
- Inferred Value: $17,400
- Drop Details: 3/9/22 on Rally
- Our view: [INSIDERS ONLY]
At Auction
Next week (15th March), Guernsey’s will host an iconic collection of African American Historical and Cultural Artifacts. It covers a wide variety of assets, including:
- Sports
- Music
- Leaders and legacy-makers
- Arts & entertainment
- Military
- Civil rights
- Slavery
Our man Horacio did a podcast on the collection, and he describes it better than I can:
Elizabeth Meaders is auctioning off her collection of African-American artifacts – a total of 20,000 items 65 years in the making. But she’s not selling it off piece-by-piece. Instead, she’s auctioning it off as one giant collection, as she always intended it to be.
All the more remarkable is that the 90-year-old retired schoolteacher was such a prolific collector on a modest salary. In terms of historical significance, the collection is priceless – almost, its appraised value ranges between $7.5 – $10 million. The collection spans from America’s pre-Revolutionary slavery era, through the Civil War and Reconstruction, up through the Civil Rights Movement and beyond. Her collection tells a story about the African-American experience.
It’s a moving exhibit including items from Muhammad Ali, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, Satchel Paige, Bill Pickett, Sammy Davis, and dozens more. Check out the story behind the collection.
