4 Things To Know About Investing In Gold Art, According To Michael Teh Of Aureo Gallery

As glamorous as it sounds, investor Michael Teh‘s relationship with gold art has been a rollercoaster ride of emotions from the start. Teh is the founder of private investment firm Saged Assets and the co-founder of Aureo Gallery, the only art gallery in Southeast Asia to sell the famed 24K gold art paintings of South Korean artist Kim Il Tae. 

Graduating among the top of his class in mechanical engineering at RMIT University, Teh’s growing interest in the stock market led him to read up any resources he could find about investments, including the Australian Financial Review. After years of hard work, perseverance and a series of successful investments which yielded multibagger returns, Teh’s investment portfolio grew considerably. 

Around this time, Teh was heavily influenced by Jim Rickards’ book, The Death Of Money: The Coming Collapse of the International Monetary System. Inspired to diversify a portion of his portfolio into fine art and gold rather than conventional paper assets like stocks and bonds, Teh’s decision to invest in gold art was realised in November 2016 at a private banking event in KL, where the Kim’s works were first displayed. 

“I knew I was taking a lot of risks by co-founding Aureo Gallery and investing in gold art back then, as I had no prior experience in art investments nor in the business of art,” shares Teh, who experienced a great deal of anxiety and stress when first opening the gallery. “Art collection and art investment in this region still aren’t very widely understood today. Ultimately, it was my innate conviction towards Kim Il Tae’s gold art that gave me the boost I needed to commit to this venture.” 

Drawing from his unique experience as a fine art investor, Teh shares some pointers to know before investing in gold art.