“It’s the unknown. “ Six months ago, when we asked the London dealer Hadrien de Montferrand his forecasts for the British art market in the post-Brexit period, this Chinese art specialist admitted to being in the dark. Several scenarios were then on the table, including the specter of a “No deal”. Despite the entry into force, the 1er January, of a free trade treaty of nearly 1,500 pages signed between the United Kingdom and the European Union, Hadrien de Montferrand does not see it any clearer: “Everything will be played out in the coming months”, he confides, worried, for the time being, of the chaos of customs formalities.
Indeed, works of art, like all other goods, are now subject to import and export declaration obligations. Time-consuming procedures, the cost of which varies from 300 to 500 euros per work and movement, according to Axel Haddad, director of the art branch of the transporter Grospiron. “Not only will these customs clearance processes incur costs of 30%, but it will be difficult to envisage transfers of works in forty-eight hours from Europe to London, which can be problematic if we want to present a work for a passing customer ”, worries Michele Casamonti, founder of the Italian art galleries Tornabuoni in Paris and London.
To get around these formalities, some London galleries were in a hurry to store part of their works in Europe in 2020, especially in the south of France. The powerful Parisian gallery owner Thaddaeus Ropac, who opened a luxurious annex in the heart of London in 2017, even deemed it safer to transfer his personal collection to Paris in 2019.
Expensive showcases
In addition to customs paperwork, there is a new cause for concern: the announcement of the abolition of tax refunds for all international tourists. A decision which, according to Mark Dodgson, secretary general of the British Association of Antiquarians, could penalize goldsmiths and large jewelers. “Why would someone want to pay 20% VAT in England rather than go to France where they can zero-rate their purchases? “, asks Rohit Gupta, CFO of London jeweler Moussaieff, on December 23, 2020, on the website of Art Newspaper.
These brakes come on top of the halt caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused British exports of works of art to fall by 75% and imports by 80% in the second quarter of 2020. In the affluent London district of Mayfair, the beating heart of the luxury and art trade, nothing is as before. Half of the space in the new gallery building on Cork Street is still vacant. “Due to the uncertainty linked to the health crisis and Brexit”, the powerful American gallery owner Marian Goodman chose to close the London branch she had opened seven years earlier in December.
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