Los Angeles gives a collector real reference points for value: fair week, museum benchmarks, and a gallery district you can walk. We arrange loans secured by your art, with terms shaped by California statute rather than by whatever the local sale rumor happens to be that season.
Frieze Los Angeles is held at Santa Monica Airport; the 2026 edition, the seventh, runs February 26 to March 1, 2026, with roughly 100 galleries. The fair launched in 2019 and moves collectors in volume: some 32,000 people attended the 2024 edition, held February 29 to March 3. That concentration of buying and selling is useful to a lending desk because it produces recent, comparable transactions against which a work can be assessed.
The institutional record runs deeper than the fair calendar. The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), at 250 South Grand Avenue, was founded in 1979 as the city's first museum devoted exclusively to contemporary art; the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA opened in 1983 in Little Tokyo. The Downtown Arts District now concentrates major galleries and non-collecting institutions, among them Hauser & Wirth at 901 E 3rd St and the Institute of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (ICALA) at 1717 E 7th St.
We consider single works and groups where value and title are clear. Post-war, contemporary and blue-chip material is the usual starting point, though category matters less than documentation. Before terms are discussed, condition, provenance and authentication are reviewed; you can read the sequence on our how it works page.
Where a work sits changes what a lender can claim. Consignment of fine art in California is governed by Civil Code section 1738 and following. Under section 1738.6, a work of fine art is property held in trust by the consignee for the benefit of the consignor and is not subject to claim by a creditor of the consignee, and these protections cannot be waived. If your piece is on consignment with a gallery, that trust status is a material point for anyone treating gallery-held inventory as collateral, and it informs how we structure and perfect our own position.
Lending itself is regulated. The California Financing Law (Financial Code section 22000 and following) requires the licensing of finance lenders and brokers making or brokering consumer and commercial loans, prohibits misrepresentation and deceptive acts, and provides administrative, civil and criminal remedies; it is administered by the DFPI. A finance lender is defined broadly as any person engaged in the business of making consumer or commercial loans. One law-firm source states that a finance lenders license carries an exemption from the California constitutional usury provision; we treat that as a point to be confirmed against the statute and Article XV before it is relied upon, not as settled fact.
The California Resale Royalty Act (Civil Code section 986) went into effect on January 1, 1977, entitling artists to a 5% royalty on qualifying resales in California or by California-based sellers. On July 6, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in Close v. Sotheby's, Inc. that the Act was preempted by the Copyright Act of 1976, so only works resold between January 1, 1977 and January 1, 1978 remain eligible. For most contemporary provenance the royalty is no longer a live cost, but it can surface in the history of older works and is worth checking during diligence.
A loan is not a sale, so no sales tax attaches to the pledge of a work. It becomes relevant only if collateral is later sold. Per the CDTFA rate table effective January 1 to March 31, 2026, the sales and use tax rate for the City of Los Angeles is 9.750%. Aggregator sites list higher county figures; rates vary by jurisdiction, so any sale should be confirmed by delivery address.
Loans are originated by licensed lender partners. Figures and rates described here and in our disclosures are general guidance, not loan offers, and nothing on this page is a commitment to lend or an assurance of approval. Terms follow a specific work, a clear title and a completed review. To open a confidential conversation, use our contact page.
Loans are originated by licensed lender partners. Loan offers, terms, rates and final decisions are made by the originating licensed lender at appraisal — figures shown here are general guidance, not loan offers.
Last reviewed August 6, 2026.
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