«IT'S CALLED GOSSIP AND OF COURSE IT'S AN OBSESSION OF MINE»

Citigroup(C_) has operated its Citi Private Bank Art Advisory service for almost 30 years for this sort of person, providing professional art advisers to help clients research purchases from galleries, private collections and auction houses. The service charges a yearly retainer as well as a percentage fee on purchases it facilitates. While technically not an investment adviser, the service is sought out by high-end buyers, from the most sophisticated of generational collectors to a newbie with a penchant for Prince or Bacon looking to fill empty walls, for its ability to sift thorough the growing art marketplace and help with financing or the leveraging collections of over $10 million in value. Suzanne Gyorgy, head of the Advisory, previously worked as the division's art finance manager and director of the PaineWebber Gallery in New York."The high-end art market has been very steady and strong since 2008," Gyorgy says, noting record-breaking sales for this year that have included works by Warhol and Monet. Investors from the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe, often gobbling up lots at auctions over the phone or by proxy, are partly to credit for the demand.

www.thestreet.com
Sept 30 2010