The Sculpture Market: An Adjacent Year Regression Index

This paper analyses the performance of an investment in sculpture during theperiod 1987–1995 by applying the hedonic price technique with time dummyvariables to a sample of over 27,000 sales at auctions. The main finding isthat the adjacent year price index differs substantially between theinexpensive/middle portfolio and the expensive portfolio. The first showsthe existence of a boom period until 1990, followed by a non boom period. Bycontrast, the return of an investment in the expensive portfolio performedsomewhat better during the period analysed, with the only fall in the priceindex in 1990 and 1991.