Profitable as a picture

John Azzopardi Vella interviews Joseph Sammut of the Belgravia Auction Gallery.

It is a demonstrable fact that during the past three years, international fine art prices have doubled. Malta's heritage in the arts continues to attract admirers, especially among the rich and highly educated sections of its population. What is the reason behind this development? Does Malta expect a fine art boom?

There are cultural and economic reasons to expect a fine art boom in Malta. There has been the publication of a number of excellent studies on Malta's art beginning with the publication of V.F. Denaro's book on The Goldsmiths of Malta and their Marks and ending with the splendid catalogue raisonne of Dr John Spike on Mattia Preti. Such books help Malta's fine art market for they make its internationalisation possible. Investing in Malta's fine art is an investment that pays.

A Preti sold at Belgravia Auction Gallery in March 1974 has found its place in the catalogue raisonne of Dr Spike. This publication makes the value of the painting quotable internationally. Culture is closely married to successful investment in the fine arts. Michaelangelo had the Medici bankers behind him; let us hope that Malta's contemporary artists will have rich bidding for their works in our auction rooms. There is no boom yet but the underpinning for one certainly exists.

You have stated that culture is the pre-requisite for successful participation in the fine art market.

Collectors are becoming not only more knowledgeable but also more sophisticated in the way they operate. They do research and preview an auction, perhaps with their adviser in tow, scrutinising the condition of the art works and checking their rarity. They also make calculations about whether it is the right time to make a purchase or not.

What is the best time to enter the fine art market?

The best opportunities in the auction rooms occur when the world's stock exchanges are passing through a bearish period, as at the present time. This occurred in Malta in 1974, when the London Stock Exchange was in poor shape, and this island's economy was reeling from the effects of the National Bank of Malta nationalisation.

Collectors who spent their money in the Belgravia Auctions that year have seen their investments multiplied many times over. An auction house is attractive not only for its economic and educational value. It is also the place where knowledge can help a man acquire wealth and prestige.

I understand that our local auctions of fine arts have always reflected international tendencies. How far is this true of the present conditions in Malta?

It is certain that in Malta and abroad during the past two years the stock markets have become steadily deflated. Demand for the best art and antiques has consequently continued to grow. The highly educated rich have switched some cash from shares into art - partly because it is an enjoyable alternative for unproductive wealth, but mainly for its high profitability in resulting in a long-term investment.

Here the comparison ends. Malta's auction rooms have, as yet, not experienced anything like the present boom in contemporary art evident in the great London and New York auction rooms.

We have excellent local contemporary artists although not many reach the standard of Emvin Cremona and Willie Apap. It must not be forgotten that artists like Amadeo Preziosi, P.P. Caruana and Schranz, now centuries in the past, were once the present.

There is a load of excellent contemporary Maltese art locked up the storerooms of our leading banks. A portion of these paintings and sculptures can be unloaded progressively on the local market, with the banks making a reasonable profit. Part of this profit can be re-invested in the works of living Maltese artists so as to encourage talent and provide future investment gains for the bank.

Banking has a great connection with art. The Medici Society in the UK is named after the Florentine renaissance Medici bankers. The great Maltese sculptor Antonio Sciortino started his career working in the Naxxar Palazzo of the Cisk bankers. Norman Mifsud will certainly be remembered for having bought for Mid-Med Bank the famous Turner depicting our Grand Harbour.

Why do you make emphasis on the contemporary art market?

I see that Malta has strong, under-exploited artistic talents, which can be productive if they can earn a living. Contemporary art has the advantage that it is not yet tied up in a museum. People are interested in it because being contemporary; there is a direct engagement. We must also admit that collecting is controlled by supply and demand.

Any Maltese millionaire wanting to acquire the finest Preti or Caravaggio faces a difficult task indeed. There are Old Master paintings in Maltese private hands but the greatest of these have little chance of coming on the market. Outstanding masterpieces are already locked away in museums. The supply of modern or perhaps not so modern art is by contrast much more plentiful.

I understand that artists like Amadeo Preziosi, Giovanni Schranz and P.P. Caruana are fetching good prices but by no means prices beyond the pocket of Malta's professionals, business class and art lovers. The prices achieved ten years ago for the same artists were but a fraction of today's prices.

I am glad you mentioned the prices which Maltese paintings, lithographs and drawings of the last century are fetching. This should gladden the heart of the collectors of contemporary Maltese art, for once education and affluence spreads such art will acquire a rarity status.

Collectors of modern Maltese art should note that now, thousands of Malta liri are required to purchase a Preziosi Constantinople lithograph album. Preziosi works sell well in Bond Street, London. A small Giovanni Schranz watercolour sold for Lm4,400 in my last auction, while a painting by Pietro Paolo Caruana reached Lm2,700.

There is the building up of a highly cultivated group of connoisseurs of Maltese art that is buying heavily into 19th century paintings. The present movement is similar to the strong buying of antique Maltese silver in the Seventies. This saw a dramatic rise in prices which have kept their high level ever since.

It is probable that connoisseurs buying Maltese paintings and drawings at the present time will have good reason to be proud of their decisions like those who bought Maltese antique silver in the Seventies when the market took off spectacularly for the first time.

Do you regard the great silver exhibition of 2000 in the President's Palace as having been worthy of becoming a permanent one?

I certainly agree that those fine art exhibitions organised by our leading heritage society should form the nucleus of a future museum of the fine arts. Only a fraction of the material exhibited needs to be made use of.

Such a venture would earn revenue for Government from the increasing number of high-quality cruise liner tourists visiting Valletta. As many as six gigantic cruise liners called recently in one weekend. A new museum of the decorative arts can be made possible by more donations in lieu of tax.

It would stimulate a powerful fine art consciousness in Malta.

Can you give us an idea how Maltese antique prices have appreciated in recent years and whether such appreciations are underpinned by international demand?

There is and always has been an international demand for the best Maltese art, especially knightly silver. I shall quote at length a news item, which appeared in Malta's The Times of August 7, 1984, and ask the serious collector to make an intelligent guess of the present auction room prices of the objects described.

The Times article was entitled "Maltese silver fetches good prices at New York auction sale". It stated: "A Maltese silver oval sideboard dish, one of various Maltese silver items, was sold for 6,050 US dollars at a New York auction by Sotheby's and Co. The dish was described in the catalogue as 'an important Maltese silver oval sideboard dish, circa 1750, with signed engraving by PP Troisi'.

"An allegorical scene engraved in the centre of the dish represented on the left Mars trampling an enemy, and on the right Neptune in his sea-horse-drawn shell chariot astride a pair of manacled figures, all against a background with numerous buildings. London dealer Koofman bought the dish.

There were nine other items of Maltese silver in the auction. They included a pair of silver waiters, a silver teapot, a sugar bowl and cover $660, five dinner plates, a pair of table candlesticks and a two-handled tray circa 1725 for $3,850.

"In another sale, held in London, in July of the same year, a private buyer paid £1,430 for a coffeepot by Pullicino. A Maltese sugar bowl in the same auction fetched £418."

Since 1984 these New York auction prices have multiplied in some cases by 400 per cent. A systematic comparison between 1984 prices and the prices registered in recent auctions must be meticulously studied.

A University thesis on the economic significance of Maltese art markets and comparisons over the years would not only make interesting reading but provide a breath of fresh air from new blood to the market.

I would like to refer to the highly successful clock exhibition that took place in the Archaeological Museum some years ago. Is it true that it caused the prices of Maltese clocks to quadruple?

The massive impact of that exhibition on clock prices can surely be easily demonstrated. Early 19th century Maltese clocks averaged Lm1,000 in the mid-1990s and sold for over Lm5,000 in the few years after the exhibition, with exhibits being more sought after.

The vast volume of these timepieces in many Maltese homes surely merits its niche section in a Museum of the Decorative Arts to further educate the general public and stimulate commerce.

In the London and New York salerooms it is said that there is nothing as profitable as a picture. Does this dictum apply in Malta as it does in these art centres?

It certainly does. I know of a renaissance drawing sold at auction in Malta for $1,500 which Christies is prepared to put up for auction with a reserve price of $50,000. Whether it will ever be allowed to reach international shores for sale is another matter which merits serious discussion and grave decisions.

The Malta auction rooms have in the past furnished numerous opportunities for enrichment and they will continue to do so in the future. The inflow of fine art pictures into Malta makes up a fantastic story.

Twenty years ago my gallery auctioned a Russell Flint autographed print. I later learned that a number of these outstanding prints had been imported for English Air Force squadron leaders stationed in these Islands.

Another category of pictures which is destined to appreciate considerably is the series of Gillray and Holland caricatures dealing with the British, French and Russian rivalry for the possession of Malta during the Napoleonic wars. This great picture odyssey has been illustrated and researched in the admirable book of Dr Albert Ganado and Chev. Joe Sammut.

Their book will have the effect on Malta-linked caricatures which Denaro's book had on Maltese silver collections. A price explosion at auction is always preceded by a cultural exposition of the subject matter.

You had followed some of Sotheby's educational study courses in London, which today are linked to University degrees. Do you still keep in touch with that great auction house? Can Sotheby's teach us any lessons?

I follow events on the international market such as the recent spectacular sale of the Rubens painting The Massacre of the Innocents closely. The sale of that painting had all the makings of a fine art boom, which was not an accidental occurrence but the result of the careful research of the Sotheby's staff and the fall in the world equity markets.

The sale of the Rubens painting has lessons for Malta. It shows how high powered auction room research can contribute to increase the value of exceptional pictures. The last word has not been said about Mattia Preti attributions while there are art treasures still to be unearthed.

There was recently a Bassano drawing sold in Malta, which had an impeccable provenance. The London National Gallery has cared to contribute in writing towards establishing its relationship to Bassano paintings in Hampton Court and the Archbishop's palace in Prague.

The attribution game goes on, not even museums being unable to have the final word. Sotheby's shows auctioneers should carry out research on what is sold in their auction rooms. The more an objet d'art is underpinned by reliable research the higher the price it can command.

The Rubens Massacre of the Innocents was of little value until, last year; Sotheby's Old Master specialist George Gordon correctly identified it as being by the great master.

Rubens had a workshop of 20 painters and all were of great ability. The painting was mentioned in a 17th Century inventory, but had been attributed to one of Rubens' pupils.

Can international auctions ever take place in Malta, such as those that are held regularly in Monte Carlo and Switzerland?

Primarily the Internet has opened world markets to us on demand. Our catalogues and images are on-line too. Enquiries about objects are constantly being made to us and the reverse is equally true in much greater volume. Building Malta into a specialised international fine arts centre can only be achieved with greater public awareness for they would certainly play a significant role in the auction rooms.

There is considerable international financial work being done in Malta and this could have a counterpart in fine art auctions. Foreign nationals arriving on our shores are reversing the exodus of British residents that took place in the 1980s. There certainly exists such a prospect, which requires revised legislation.

The auctioneers laws enacted 20 years ago need updating; the Maltese economy has changed drastically and new legislation may help exploit opportunities which now present themselves.

John Azzopardi Vella has advised Standard & Poor's and promoted the Malta Development Fund. E-mail: johnazzopardivella@hotmail.com.