Pound falls (ctd.)
October 7 2016
Video: Via You Tube
The pound continues its precipitous fall on the world markets. It's a sign of how topsy turvy UK politics has become that the most recent drop (to a new low of $1.22) has come as a direct result of speeches by the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer - but few seem to think this a problem. The pound has now devalued more than when, back in the 1970s, Harold Wilson was obliged to go on national television and make his famous 'pound in your pocket speech' (above).
Anyway, this all has an effect on the art market here in the UK. At the moment the low pound looks to be helping sales at the London sale rooms - recent auctions, on varied material, have all been unusually strong. But it's not good for Brits buying, as James Tarmy reports in Bloomberg:
As the pound dropped to levels unseen since the mid-1980s, a line of several hundred people snaked out of London’s Frieze Art Fair minutes before the VIP opening on Wednesday. Overheard were French, German, and American speakers, but British accents were few and far between. “We’ve had interest from quite a few Americans and a few Europeans,” said Angela Westwater, whose gallery, Sperone Westwater, had a booth in the main fair. “No British so far.”
