MAB100 Art Index: Revolutionising Art Investments Against Conventional Assets
MAB100 Print Market Index © MyArtBroker 2023 
Market Reports
When investors think of financial indices, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average are the natural touchpoints – benchmarks that track value and performance over time. The MAB100 applies that same logic to the blue chip print market.
Because prints exist in editioned formats and trade frequently across public and private markets, they provide the data density, comparability, and liquidity required to build a reliable, financial-grade index. The result is a level of clarity that allows art – specifically blue chip prints – to be benchmarked in ways similar to conventional asset classes.
The Print Market’s Resilience Against Traditional Asset Volatility
The behaviour of the blue-chip print market over the past five years illustrates why prints can be credibly compared with mature asset classes like equities, gold, or real estate. During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic – when global markets swung sharply and oil collapsed – editioned works demonstrated a remarkable ability to withstand volatility.
One of the clearest examples came in early 2020, when Sotheby’s was forced by to convert its planned live Prints & Multiples sale into a fully online auction. Instead of weakening the sale, the digital transition strengthened it with the auction achieving $3.4 million (with fees), the highest result ever recorded at the time for a dedicated Prints & Multiples sale. At a moment when equities were plummeting and entire sectors were grinding to a halt, blue chip prints adapted instantly to a new trading environment. This is behaviour far closer to gold or prime real estate than to high-volatility financial assets.
The strength of the category during this period was further underscored by the surge in Banksy’s print market through 2020 and 2021. A wave of new collectors entered the market through editioned works, expanding liquidity and deepening global demand. In financial terms, this was a moment where market breadth widened – something more commonly seen in growing equities segments than in niche collecting categories. These years proved that prints were surviving disruption and expanding under conditions that destabilised other asset classes.
This resilience continued into 2023, when the wider art market contracted for the first time in a decade. Where other art segments softened, prints held exceptionally steady. Christie’s delivered a record-breaking prints sale; Hockney recorded his strongest print year on record – momentum that has continued with new editions appearing in 2025; Warhol’s trial proofs emerged as a distinct collecting tier; and Lichtenstein’s late Nudes series gained significant traction ahead of what will be a milestone 2025 year in his market. These developments mirror patterns familiar in financial markets: during contraction, capital consolidates in high-quality, blue chip assets.
The long-term trajectory makes the argument even clearer. The 2025 October Prints & Multiples auctions totalled between $4.5 million and over $6 million at the hammer, representing roughly a 35–75% increase from the benchmark-setting $3.4 million achieved during the pandemic’s online transition. In asset-class terms, this constitutes sector-level appreciation comparable to resilient equity segments or high-performing real-estate indices.
The MAB100 captures this behaviour with precision. Its repeat-sales methodology shows a market that absorbs shocks more effectively than equities, adapts more quickly than real estate, and attracts capital in a manner similar to defensive assets like gold. This is why the print market is one of the few areas of the art world that can be compared credibly to conventional asset classes.
What Makes the MAB100 Superior to Other Art Indices
Most art indices struggle with structural limitations. They mix unique works with editioned ones, aggregate across disparate categories, or rely exclusively on public auction totals that reflect visibility rather than actual performance. The difference is that these models tend to track momentum, not measurable appreciation.
The MAB100 resolves these issues through a focused, academically grounded approach. By analysing repeat sales of editioned blue chip prints, the index measures actual price movement rather than sentiment. It ranks artworks – not artists – because markets rarely move uniformly across an artist’s output. This produces a far more accurate picture of market behaviour.
Another defining strength is the integration of private-sale data. Most art indices rely solely on auction records, capturing only a portion of market activity. The MAB100 incorporates public and private sales, valuations, and internal market analytics, offering a more complete and timely representation of the true market, tracking which artworks demonstrate stable, long-term, investment-grade performance.
How The MAB100 Index Works
At the heart of the MAB100 is repeat-sales regression – the same statistical method used in housing and equities indices. When a print sells at two different points in time, the change in price becomes a direct measure of appreciation or depreciation. Aggregating thousands of these sales pairs reveals the underlying trend of the blue chip print market.
To make this trend immediately readable, the index is anchored at a baseline value of 100. If the index rises to 120, the market has grown 20% since baseline. At 140, the market is up 40%. This mirrors the logic of financial benchmarks, allowing art to be interpreted using the same analytical framework applied to traditional asset classes.
Because the art market is seasonal, the MAB100 employs a 360-day rolling average to smooth volatility. Quarterly recalibration ensures the index maintains alignment with current market conditions, reflecting new sales and removing outdated ones. The result is a precise, continually updated indicator of the print market’s direction and health.
Data-Driven Art Investing: Why Indices Like the MAB100 Now Matter More Than Ever
As the art market becomes increasingly data-driven, indices are becoming essential tools for collectors, advisors, and analysts. The latest Deloitte x ArtTactic Art & Finance Report 2025 highlights a marked increase in demand for transparent, quantifiable metrics – noting that more than ever, collectors are treating art as a financial asset that requires the same analytical infrastructure as traditional investments. Wealth managers surveyed in the report emphasised the growing need for performance benchmarks, comparable indices, and data-led portfolio tools as their clients diversify into art. Against this backdrop, the MAB100’s repeat-sales structure and integration of both public and private data directly address the market’s call for accountability and measurable performance, providing clarity on which artworks demonstrate sustained value – and when market timing is optimal.
For wealth managers, the index offers a reliable point of comparison between art and conventional asset classes at a moment when the report shows cross-category benchmarking becoming a priority for high-net-worth clients. For collectors, it introduces confidence by transforming opaque market behaviour into interpretable, data-led signals. For the industry at large, it delivers the transparency and governance that Deloitte identifies as the next major requirement for a maturing, globally connected art economy.