Map dealer Graham Arader of Arader Galleries tells Tom Keene on Bloomberg News today there’s no middle class left in the U.S. that’s collecting. Moreover, “there’s no upper middle class left, it’s only the wealthy collectors that are moving this market.”
The appearance was promoted with the question of whether it’s a good time to invest in tangible “collectable” assets, the premise being that maps are affordable. The program didn’t seem to adequately address whether buying entry-level maps in particular was a good investment.
Arader says the average entry price in the U.S. For a map is $2,000 in the U.S. and $300 in the world.
“Americans are still the great collectors,” Arader says.
Keene asks where the silly money was going. To that Arader says any map that shows something important for the first time was in demand. “When it does that collectors are willing to pay almost everything,” he says.
Urban Art & Antiques 