I was looking at all the gold buying going on recently and got to thinking about how I invest. I got a twinge of sort of “get on the band wagon” with those who are buying up gold as a way to secure some wealth and then took a little step back and wondered ‘o.k. what would i do with gold? Well, not much really. It quickly occurred to me I would much rather buy a piece of art that I could hang on my wall. A lump of gold might be sort of interesting for a while, but I notice that I have some other rocks ariound and I don’t get nearly as much pleasure from looking at those as i do a painting or sculpture. So went I and bought an artwork instead of the gold. The artist was very happy to sell me the art. If fact, his response was of amazement and the few e-mails we exchanged to handle the sale (the artist lives in another state) were decorated with lots of ‘thank-you!’s, ‘Holy S***!’ and ‘you’re the coolest!’. I imagined what sort of transaction would happen with gold had I taken that route. I suspect it would have been along the lines of a dry exchange about the amount and a few pleasantries pertaining to the market being affected by the economy. I doubt if there would be same level of appreciation from a gold broker. So, not only did I wind up with something that is much more aesthetically pleasing, but I really made the artist’s day. As to whether the artwork will increase in value in the market place over time I do not know, nor do I have an expectations about that. But for myself, I do know that the synergy created from the art buying will leave an enriching effect for a long time to come.
Steve Storz
