Recently there have been a bevy of handwringing articles relating to softness in the 20^th century arts auctions. Sculptures and paintings have appeared to exhausted their welcome near term. Later Picassos and the always very thin market for sculptures have been encountering some bumps in the road.  It’s not surprising that their markets are taking a pause. They have been primarily celebrating owner prestige rather than object importance and rarity for quite some time. Well chosen objects will decline briefly. The others will suffer longer.

 

In any event, not all categories of collectibles are suffering in the same way. Collectible paper continues to broaden its footprint.

 

By sheer numbers, we can see we are living in a new world. Recently (5/25/25), we reported, via our Weekly Auction Update, 101 completed sales in a single week that converted into $44,876,907.73.

 

Some forms of art may be slowing down. Collectible paper continues to be on a tear.

 

So put your worry beads away!

 

For perspectives about the art market look for The Art Newspaper, Puck, ArtNews.com, and CNBC (The art market is in a correction as big spenders fade), and Reddit (Now we’re officially in an art market crisis).

 

If in doubt about the health of collectible paper, click here to read about the recent sale of Lincoln material.