With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1332052
Jim Richardson, owner of Western Coins and Stamp in Richmond. You'd have done far better holding onto your early gaming tech or Hello Kitty parapherna- lia. Still, there will always be niches that buck the trend. For example, wealthy buyers who grew up in China in the 1960s are paying top dollar for stamps issued during the Cultural Revolution, Richardson notes. Since it's hard to pre- dict future demand—will vintage cars still be a thing when today's 20-somethings without drivers' licences hit their 50s?— the best advice is to choose collectibles in extremely limited supply. EASIEST WAY TO BUY: Dealers and swap meets, in person or online LIQUIDITY: Low DEAL FRICTION: Medium BIG RISK: Living in smaller homes, people have less space to store and display their treasures A R T The past 30 years have minted an unprecedented number of millionaires around the world, which has translated into a secular bull market for fine art. Works by blue-chip Canadian artists such as Emily Carr, Lawren Harris and Jean- Paul Riopelle, for example, have appreci- ated by an average of more than 7 percent a year, says Robert Heffel, co-founder and vice-president of Vancouver-based auction house Heffel Fine Art. "The art market has held up very well in the pandemic," Heffel adds. "People have time on their hands and are pursuing their passions." He rec- ommends would-be art buyers bone up on a particular school or style, watch auction prices and "buy what you love"—it's a buy-and-hold asset that will most likely be hanging on your wall a very long time. EASIEST WAY TO BUY: Work with a dealer to build a collection by an established artist. Or you could try the venture capital approach and look for a future star at the annual Emily Carr University sale LIQUIDITY: Medium DEAL FRICTION: High; dealer commissions are typically 10 percent of the hammer price, plus taxes BIG RISK: An economic depression that causes the suddenly broke to liquidate their heirlooms. For individual works, there's a risk the artist remains obscure, loses cachet or becomes overly prolific W H I S K Y While the vintage wine market has gone sour in recent years, aged single- malt whisky is still on a run—in fact, it contends for the fastest-appreciating asset class of the past decade. The nature of the commodity is that it gets tastier, or at least rarer (whisky only ages in the barrel, not in the bottle), every year as a few more bottles of that Yamazaki 55-year-old get uncorked for some oligarch's family wed- ding. The emergence of Japanese single- malt since 2000 has both competed with and grown the market for old scotch, but there are up-and-coming products and regions that may offer better value, such as bourbon and, believe it or not, Taiwan. It's got to the point that many of the most valuable bottles are never going to be drunk, says Vancouver whisky expert Nate Ganapathi, who runs the Instagram site @singlemaltdaily. "It's looked at as art." These days, you can buy share units in funds—there's a whisky ETF trading in Sweden—that own curated cellars. But where's the fun in that? Ganapathi recom- mends starting with 18- to 25-year-old bottles of limited-edition single-malts that will set you back US$1,000 and up from a retailer or auction house in the U.S. or overseas (virtually none have a presence in Canada). "For Canadians to get involved in it, it's very difficult," he cautions. For British Columbians, there are onerous taxes for importing the stuff. One work- around is to get the auction house you buy from to store it for an annual fee. Another is to ship it to an Alberta address. EASIEST WAY TO BUY: Pick up a few bottles of Pappy Van Winkle 10- or 12-year-old bourbon from the BC Liquor Distribu- tion Branch's premium spirits release in November. Keep them stored in a cool, safe place where you won't be tempted to crack one after a night out LIQUIDITY: Low DEAL FRICTION: High; auction houses typi- cally charge buyers 10 percent and sellers 5 percent BIG RISK: Theft, spoilage or breakage in transit and storage ■ 24 BCBUSINESS JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021