MOSCOW (RIA Novosti political commentator Yana Yurova). In the West any work of art that is of cultural or artistic value can be sold on the antiques market, even if it was created only a year ago.
In Russia, however, only items that are genuinely old are called antiques. This may be the reason why the Russian antiques market was relatively closed to the outside world for a long time. But the winds of change have recently swept over the market, bringing two international auction houses to Russia. Sotheby's now has a branch in Russia and Christie's holds auctions in Moscow.
There are now about 180-200 registered antique dealers in Moscow, ranging from large salons and galleries to small shops. However there is only one Russian auction house that offers a full range of professional services and holds regular auctions and that is Gelos. In comparison, London, for example, has about 2,000 antiques shops and 40 auction houses. The Russian antiques market is clearly still in its infancy. However, competition between dealers is fierce because there are not yet enough items for sale.
The president of Gelos, Oleg Stetsyura, says, "If the market is to survive there needs to be at least a 30% increase in the number of antiques. Then the dealers will be able to develop their operations, financial schemes will be set up and the knowledge base on antiques will be expanded. Essentially, a free market culture will develop. If the market is closed, antiques will inevitably be smuggled out of the country, but there is little point in importing them. Several amendments to the laws on the export and import of cultural treasures entered into force in Russia on January 1, 2005. Experts expect an influx of Russian art and antiques into the country, which will lead to growth in the Russian market.
The Russian antiques market's annual turnover is $700 million. Insurance companies say the market capacity is $1.5 billion. At the same time, since 2003 the price of Russian art has been going up and this trend is set to continue because demand increases supply. Moreover, the rate of items turnover on the market is currently very slow. Nonetheless, art dealers and antiquaries say this is the best time to invest in antiques. So it is not surprising that commercial collectors are now entering this previously closed sector, the traditional domain of professional art connoisseurs. They are choosing to invest in a market in which annual profit margins are 15-20%.
The Russian antiques market is expanding steadily, with an annual growth rate of 30-40%. There is no reason to believe that prices will come down. On the contrary, Stetsyura predicts that Russian antiques will go up in price by 20-25% in the next six months. The market is changing. The best objects of art are accumulated for the auctions, items turnover is growing. The percentage of "gray" market transactions is falling by 10-12% a year. The new season might see a significant increase in the turnover of the Russian antiques market as prices go up. The growing presence of foreign dealers and auctioneers will promote this process. However, the days of astronomical price increases and speculative demand are over. The only items that might fetch astonishing prices are those from "unexpected" collections, such as Rudolf Nuriyev's collection, which was sold posthumously, and Boris Kustodiyev's painting from Fyodor Shalyapin's private collection.
There is no set pricing structure for art and antiques. Generally, items of interest to professional collectors or museums are expensive. For instance, the starting price for paintings is about $10,000. Anything costing less than that will probably be a contemporary piece or an item produced by a little known artist in the 19th - early 20th century. Masterpieces sell for over $50,000.
A price guide, "DAR. Russian Art from Avant-Garde up to the Present Day," was recently published in Moscow. It represents an attempt to establish pricing guidelines for Russian 20th and 21st century art. However, some gallery owners refused to participate in this experiment because they did not agree with the guide's approach to evaluation. Nonetheless, it is still a definite step toward putting the market on a more regulated footing. The guide will be published annually.
When it comes to the quality of the items sold on the Russian market, antiquaries admit that Russia is no different from any other country: there are a lot of replicas and fakes in circulation. Some of them are even accompanied by certificates of authenticity. Paintings and icons are the items most often to be forged, followed by furniture, porcelain, glass and silverware. This has led to a notable change in the relations between antiquaries and state institutions and expert organizations. Mikhail Suslov, vice president of the St. Petersburg Association of Antiquaries, says that the owners of antique galleries, art dealers and collectors often turn to museums for attributions and expert opinions on works of art. "This rarely happened five-seven years ago but now most owners and buyers of antiques prefer to have expert conclusion on the authenticity of objects of art, particularly of paintings. In Moscow, expert appraisals are carried out by the Tretyakov Gallery and the Grabar All-Russia Art Research and Restoration Center, and in St. Petersburg this service is provided only by the Russian Museum. Unfortunately, the Hermitage does not provide expert appraisals to external organizations and individuals. This may be one of the reasons why there is less demand for West European art and paintings. Russian art continues to dominate our market."
The market for rare books and numismatics is developing somewhat separately, even though the revival of the Russian antiques market began with book auctions. Antiquarian bookselling continues to be a fairly closed market and booksellers set their prices independently of Western trends. It is currently much cheaper to buy rare books in Moscow than from Sotheby's. At the same time, a great variety of pieces come up for sale. For instance, one of the Gelos-staged auctions featured a copy of the book "Raskolniki I Ostrozhniki" (The Dissenters and the Prisoners) written by the famous author Fyodor Livanov. In his time, Livanov's research work was published in five volumes but the censors ordered that the fifth volume's print-run be burned. By chance, ten books survived, one of which was put up for auction by Gelos, with a starting price of $110. The book was sold for $2,000. The most expensive book sold by Gelos last year was Dmitry Rovinsky's "Materials for Russian Iconography," which went for $200,000.
These days Russian collectors enjoy a very busy auction calendar. Gelos alone holds over 100 general and specialized auctions a year, including weekly antiques auctions, special "Big Friday" auctions, monthly and seasonal auctions, and specialized rare book and numismatic auctions.
Recently, Russian antiques have been finding buyers abroad. Spring 2005 will see two exciting events for foreign buyers. In May a "Russian Auction" will be held in London at Sotheby's. About 100 Russian collectors' items will go under the hammer. After that, Gelos will hold another auction of Russian art and antiques in London, the "Moscow-London-Paris auction", to be broadcast live in London and Paris.
While auctions of Russian antiques are now held quite regularly in London, Paris will have access to the Russian auction for the first time. It will not however be a traditional auction. The auction will be broadcast in Paris giving potential buyers the chance to make absentee bids. This promises to be an unusual and interesting event for French antique collectors. The latest trend in the antiques market is to use cutting-edge technology to widen the customer base and promote the international integration of the market.
Foreign buyers are becoming increasingly interested in Russian art, as Russian antiques are seen as being very good investments. Moreover, the Russian antiques market is solvent and its capacity is increasing, which makes it more attractive for foreign antiquaries.
Last winter, President of the Parisian Rossini auction house, Francoise Thomas-Dutel, attended the 18th Russian Antiques Salon in Moscow on the invitation of Oleg Stetsyura. Dutel says that she is considering holding specialized Russian auctions every three to four months. "The French and Russian markets operate in different ways. I came to see if they could be made to work together. They can, and I hope it will be mutually beneficial," she said.
