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Art Market Research
Art valuation & price indices for Tax, Wealth Management & Academia
Trusted by the UK’s tax authority, wealth managers and researchers since 1978.
Quantifying the art and collectible markets
Art Market Research (AMR) provides the kind of data institutions need when art and luxury collectibles have to be valued, explained and defended. For almost fifty years we have focused on one thing: turning irregular auction results into clear, repeatable evidence that can stand up to internal review, external scrutiny and academic analysis.
Our work sits quietly behind many familiar names. For more than two decades, HMRC’s valuations team have used AMR indices as one of their tools when reviewing art valuations for tax. Our charts offer reference curves that help benchmark prices and test revaluations where liabilities depend on getting the numbers right. In the private sector, we supply underlying data to Knight Frank’s Luxury Investment Index (KFLII) and contribute price series and charts to financial and trade media coverage of the art market.
AMR’s indices have also been used extensively in peer-reviewed research on art and alternative investments. Studies published in journals such as Accounting & Finance, Empirical Economics and the Journal of Alternative Investments have drawn on our long-run data to analyse risk, return and diversification in art and related markets. Our time series are structured to support this kind of work: consistent construction, documented assumptions and enough history to make serious empirical analysis possible.
An academically proven, industry-standard resource
AMR’s indices are recognised academic art market data resources and have been used in financial and economic studies and MA programmes for decades.
- Structured for analysis – consistent time series suitable for empirical work.
- Documented – clear explanations of what is included, excluded and why.
- Stable over time – allowing long-run trend analysis across artists and sectors.
PUBLISHED IN
Accounting & Finance / Empirical Economics / Journal of Alternative Investments / Journal of Financial Transformation and others
AMR indexes were very comprehensive and high-quality and use a very rich set of data and already included information on submarkets with a useful monthly frequency. They really made our work easy, especially as it was a new research area for us both, and certainly better than the indexes used in comparable research.”
Andrew C Worthington –
Art as an Investment: Risk, Return and Portfolio Diversification in Major Painting Markets, 2004
Frequently Asked Questions
Art Market Research indices are used in art appraisal for estate planning, wealth management art valuation and financial and trade media reporting
Who typically uses AMR?
Typical users include tax valuation teams, wealth managers, insurers, family offices, academics, MA programmes and market researchers. Media outlets and industry report authors also use our charts to provide authoritative background numbers on art and luxury markets.
In short, AMR is designed for organisations that need art and luxury data to be defensible, not just interesting.
How does HMRC use art market data?
HMRC uses art market data as one of several tools to benchmark valuations declared for tax. AMR provides long-run indices and charts that show how prices for artists or sectors have moved over time. These reference curves help HMRC assess whether a valuation looks broadly in line with market evidence.
AMR data supports valuation checks but does not replace professional judgement or HMRC guidance.
How can AMR help with art valuation for estate planning?
For estate and inheritance planning, advisers use AMR indices to show market context around a valuation: long-run trends, volatility and relative performance for specific artists or sectors. Our charts provide documentable evidence that can be attached to reports or working papers if valuations are ever reviewed.
Final values are always set by qualified valuers, but AMR gives them a clear, defensible market backdrop.
What are the academic research applications of AMR indices?
Researchers use AMR indices to study the risk, return and diversification properties of art and luxury assets, and their relationship with financial markets. Because our series are long-run, consistent and segmented by style or sector, they work well for time-series and portfolio analysis.
AMR data has been used in peer-reviewed articles and doctoral research on art and alternative investments.
Is AMR suitable for private collectors?
Yes, provided the collector (or their adviser) needs structured, long-run evidence rather than casual price checks. Private collectors use AMR to understand how segments of their collection have behaved over time, to support valuation discussions, and to inform estate or insurance planning.
How are AMR indices constructed?
AMR indices are built from a proprietary database using a carefully limited yet statistically meaningful slice of the global auction market. We apply bespoke filtering and sorting IP to over 60,000 lots per year, standardise the data, then construct and smooth time series for artists and sectors.
We publish our methodological principles and keep them consistent over time, so users can see how sampling, cleaning and smoothing are done.
Four decades of continuous market observation
Family-owned, continuously innovating since 1978.
- 1990–2000 – AMR’s Art 100 index ran regularly in The Daily Telegraph, one of the first data-led benchmarks for the art market in the mainstream financial press.
- Early 2000s – We took the database online in the first dot-com boom, giving professionals web access to indices before “art tech” was a recognised category.
- Today – We continue to innovate, extending into luxury sectors and building tools like Revaluart that turn our cleaned database into on-demand charts, valuations and reports.
Businesses we work with
Illuminating value in opaque markets
Our proprietary database is built from a carefully limited yet statistically meaningful slice of the global auction market. We apply bespoke filtering and sorting IP to over 60,000 lots per year to produce research-grade indices. Our published art price index methodology remains consistent over time, giving users clarity on sampling, cleaning and smoothing.
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