Art for wealth's sake

The best place to put your money right now seems to be into safes. And not just literally, for it seems the sales of home safes has gone through the roof since the start of the recent global economic crisis. And no doubt someone at IKEA is right now inventing a new mattress with a zip and padlock on the side for the lower end of the market. As the world looks for new places to put cash it once thought was safe in the bank, a few surprising investment trends have become apparent.

It might seem counter-intuitive in these uncertain times to invest in luxury goods, but it seems that is where the smart money is going. Fine wines and champagnes continue to buck the trends, and the recent auction at Sotheby's of Damien Hirst's work shocked the art world with the prices he was able to attract, pocketing the shark pickler a cool £111,000,000.

But I can see a problem with this:

"Darling, the milkman needs paying, and I've only got an early Picasso - he says he can't change more than a small Braque."

"Try next door - see if they'll change it for a couple of Rothkos"