Was ist ein Original, was ist ein Unikat und was ist ein Kunstwerk? Welche Auswirkungen haben Erhaltungszustand, Herkunft und Geschichte eines Kunstwerks auf dessen Wert? Mit welchen Qualitätsmaßstäben und Kriterien kann man ein Werk beurteilen?

Diesen und vielen weiteren Fragen rund um das Thema "Was kostet Kunst?" widmen sich herausragende Fachautoren und beleuchten unter anderem aus juristischen, restauratorischen und kunsthistorischen Gesichtspunkten, wie sich ein Kunstwerk einordnen und schätzen lässt. Sie erläutern wie bedeutsam die Stellung eines Künstlers in der Geschichte sowie die Einordnung seines Werkes in sein künstlerisches uvre ist. Hilfreiche Informationen, wie man den richtigen Marktpreis findet und sich im Datendschungel von Preisdatenbanken orientieren kann, machen den Sammelband zu einem kompetenten Ratgeber für alle Sammler und Kunstinteressierte, aber auch für Künstler, Galerien, Auktionshäuser und alle am Kunstmarkt Beteiligten.

Dr. Christian Knebel, Geschäftsführer der publicplan GmbH, widmet sich in diesem Sammelband dem Thema "Navigation im Datendschungel: Segmentierung des Kunstmarkts, Vergleichswerte und Preistrends".

Hier kaufen: Hatje Cantz, Buchhandlung Walther-König, Amazon

Citation: Knebel, C. (2008), "Gallery Owners and Pimps - A Comparison of Business Strategies", Discussion paper

Citation: Knebel, C. (2008), "Death of Artists, Public Attention and Prices for the Fine Arts", Discussion paper

Based on the research conducted in the fields of cultural economics and economics of the visual arts, this thesis focuses on three special anomalies in the market for fine arts. After a short introduction to the history of research on the economics of the visual arts in chapter 1, chapter 2 sets out the basic requirements for further analysis, namely the foundations of art markets, the characteristics of art as a good, market structures and actors, as well and the driving forces of supply and demand and the resulting pricing mechanisms. Special attention is drawn in chapter 3 to the data used for analysis, which is artist data from Artcyclopedia, auction price data from Hislop’s Art Sales Index and Artprice.com, gallery price and reputation data from the Capital Kunstkompass, and popularity data taken from the number of total hits registered by the Google search engine. Next, in chapter 4, the three anomalies are analyzed. The three topics are 1) a comparison of pricing strategies in dealer and auction markets, 2) the effects of an artist’s death on appreciation of his/her works (called "death-effects") and 3) artists and superstardom. Lastly, the conclusion in chapter 5 summarises the results presented in chapter 4 and indicates possible future research topics.

The thesis presented here is original as regards the way in which the anomalies are analyzed. Data is utilised which has never before been employed in this context, in this depth and in this combination. Furthermore, the anomalies described here have previously been described only scantly, if at all, in the context of economics of the visual arts. Owing to these special features, the thesis has broadened the research agenda and created new impulses for further research. For outsiders, the strange behaviour of the art market is partly explained from the point of view of an economist.

Citation: Knebel, C. (2007), "Anomalies in Fine Art Markets - Three Examples of an Imperfect Market for Perfect Goods", Doctoral thesis, University of Paderborn, Internet: http://ubdok.uni-paderborn.de/servlets/DocumentServlet?id=6234

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Using a large and representative data set covering some 560 painters for whom we collected information on nearly 266,000 auction sales in the years 1959-2003 we demonstrate the existence of a "death effect" for a particular sub-group of these artists. When we distinguish between average and star painters as well as between an anticipated and an unexpected death we find a significant price increase immediately after the death of the "stars", but not the "average painters". Moreover, prices tend to revert to the pre-death level rather soon even for the works produced by star painters. We attribute this finding to a "nostalgia effect" resulting from media attention surrounding the death of more popular artists.

Citation: Frick, B. & Knebel, C. (2007), "Does a 'Death-Effect' in Art Markets really exist?", Discussion paper

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The paper tests a couple of hypotheses relating to markets where demand is not taken as a given, but subject to sophisticated and encompassing price-building strategies. The study uses a data set that provides quoted dealer prices for medium-sized works of 100 leading visual artists from 1970 to 2004. These data are compared with auction price results for works by the same artists. The study reports significant discrepancies with respect to the relationship between the age of artists and prices paid for their works in the two markets, and with respect to general price developments in the two markets as measured by indices.

Citation: Hutter, M., Knebel, C., Pietzner, G. & Schäfer, M. (2007), "Two games in town: a comparison of dealer and auction prices in contemporary visual arts markets", Journal of Cultural Economics, vol. 31, no. 3, DOI: 10.1007/s10824-007-9044-9

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The original publication is available at http://www.springerlink.com.

This paper conducts a detailed analysis of superstardom in the visual arts. The theoretical foundations are explained and an overview of the literature on this topic is provided. By theory it is found that talent is of lower relevance for the emergence of superstardom, compared to factors influenced by middle-men, experts and the media in our times. For these factors the influence of superstardom on the fine arts market are analysed by the following means: datasets from the Capital Kunstkompass 1970-2005 for the measurement of expert appraisals; Google's total number of hits for artist names as a way of gauging the artist-specific consumption capital stock; and auction data from Hislop's Art Sales Index from 1951 to 2004 as a proxy for artist income. The existence of superstardom in the visual arts is partly explained by these data.

Citation: Knebel, C. (2007), "Superstardom in the Visual Arts: The Influence of Expert Appraisals and Artist-Specific Consumption Capital on Incomes of Artists", Discussion paper

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Citation: Knebel, C. (2005), "Explanation and Recognition of Art Market Booms by 'Demand-Pull' Phenomena", Discussion paper

Citation: Knebel, Christian (2004), "Preisindexerstellung für Bildende Kunst - Ein Überblick über den Stand der Forschung"

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