Christie's and Sotheby's (BID) were only able to pull in a combined $482.3 million on five high-profile art evening auctions in New York and London this year -- down 75% from 2008. Last year, the same collection of flagship auctions was good for $1.97 billion, which was off from the $2.4 billion record set in 2007. This year's performance still lags 2006's $1.1 billion aggregate tally.

From 2003 through 2007, the contemporary art market grew by a factor of eight, according to data from ArtPrice, yet the fun came to an abrupt halt in the fourth quarter of last year, thanks to the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the near-collapse of American International Group (AIG), which Sotheby's losing $50 million and Christie's $40 million, as pieces were unable to reach the prices guaranteed to sellers by the auction houses (a practice which has since been abandoned).

The Financial Times has recently covered two different, unconventional "investments": art and wine. While I've definitely heard a lot about these two segments of the economy, I never really considered them to be an investment. I wonder how much hedge fund managers are contributing to this boom because I constantly hear of traders like Steve Cohen making huge art purchases or adding to their extensive wine cellars.

While art prices can move up and down based on their perceptions of value, one art collector was quoted as saying, "When I analyze a stock, I look at future income stream, how it is priced in relation to its competitors and the quality of management, and other criteria that can be measured quantitatively. The sole measure of an artwork is the cultural perception of value attributed to it. That is not something you can make any reasonable prediction about in relation to its future value." This is a very valid argument, but that doesn't mean there isn't an investment opportunity as many asset classes outside of stocks and bonds don't have true income streams -- think currencies, commodities, etc., yet macro funds have been able to extract profits from these assets nonetheless.

According to the article on wine, the index of investable wines is up 42% this year moving it to its highest level since its inception in 2000. As I said before, one must wonder how much of this move is new money quickly and rapidly building up their wine cellars, shocking the available supply.

Ten years ago, hedge funds and private equity funds were considered unconventional, but today they've become mainstay "alternative investments." Is it possible that wine and art will be mainstay investment opportunities several years from now?