The market for African art today is an odd creature. If African art is the parent (or perhaps step-parent) of Modernism, it is the grandparent of contemporary art. This generational remove has meant that the explosion of the contemporary art market has not yet fully translated into the African art market, which is relatively small and has limited inventory, because each piece is unique. Most dealers lament that the heyday is over, that most of the major collectors are too old to continue, and that too few new (read: young) collectors are on the horizon. African art may be an aesthetic and conceptual match with Man Ray, but how does it bridge the generation gap with Jeff Koons? Paradoxically, this is its strength in today’s market. Koons’ giant Hummelesque "Ushering in Banality" sold at Sotheby’s New York in November 2006 for $4,048,000. The same month, the Brill Collection sale totaled $4,186,720, though that was for 170 lots. For a market with supposedly few collectors, this was a very strong figure. The then-new director of the African and Oceanic department, Heinrich Schweizer, wryly observed that the figure had taken the African art sale from being effectively an afternoon afterthought to the equivalent of one lot in the touted Contemporary Art Evening Auction. It certainly represents progress, and this is where value lies. As major contemporary works climb toward the eight figures, savvy collectors are taking a look around the edges, and some are finding a key component of the genesis of 20th-century art.

The African art market has been creaking along largely unnoticed by the larger art world for many years, but now some of the money involved in contemporary sales is finding new inspiration and apparent bargains here. This movement isn’t defining the marketplace yet, but it’s definitely affecting sales. At the last auction at Sotheby’s New York in May 2007, one of the top lots (which sold in seven figures) was won by a collector from the house’s contemporary art clientele, and a second seven-figure sale had contemporary collectors as underbidders. Almost every sale is setting new records. Where a good auction a few years ago brought $2 million to $3 million, the most recent one at Sotheby’s in Paris was pushing $10 million, and was considered something of a disappointment, largely due to the collapse of the dollar against the euro.

What this all boils down to is that now is an excellent time to look at African art carefully and an excellent time to acquire it, before the market kicks it up too high. But before doing so, the specifics of the market need to be understood. Compared to the contemporary art market, where dealers rigorously document and tightly control the material, African art can be a veritable Wild West. The best material is antique and spectacular. It tends to be called "19th-century," but given the limitations of both provenance and carbon-14 testing, it can be, and probably is, much older. A non-archaeological mask from New Guinea (not in Africa but a reasonable parallel) recently tested to the 8th century, confirming that this was an important object that the original owners took good care of. Twentieth-century material that retains its original intent is also highly valued, but a lot of the material on the market is more recent and has been affected aesthetically by the decline of traditional cultures in the face of Christianity, Islam or modernization. While there is nothing inherently wrong with these pieces, their market value tends to be less, and for those who know what to look at, such pieces reveal themselves. An unfortunate number of the pieces that one might encounter are outright fakes, mostly created in Africa (although Indonesia is doing a very credible job these days) but not within a traditional ritual context, and are made specifically to deceive Western consumers. Another element in this equation is what is called "airport art," contemporary reproductions or interpretations of traditional forms, usually artificially aged to make them look more like their prototypes. These are effectively the equivalents of the posters of Picasso’s "Don Quixote" that adorn the walls of so many college dorm rooms. All of this, or at least the authentic material, ranges in price from what could be called "blue-chip" (meaning expensive material from Gabon, parts of the Congo, Mali and Côte d’Ivoire) on one end, and "new discovery," which today encompasses much of East Africa as well as many subregions, on the other.

While all of this may sound daunting, the solution is elementary. Take some time in museums and galleries to develop an eye for what quality pieces are. Then buy what you like, but make sure it’s from a reputable dealer who will refund your money if he made a mistake and the piece someday turns out to be other than what it purports to be. Don’t be put off by the difficulties. With a little common sense and a bit of research, this market can easily be traversed. The reward is well worth it. I have a sculpture sitting on my desk that I bought for next to nothing two decades ago. It was made before the introduction of metal tools to the region it came from, and the piece speaks of transformation, terror, darkness and survival in a way that would make a surrealist weep. I haven’t bothered to have it appraised in the contemporary marketplace because I don’t care what it’s worth. I’ll never part with it.

Jonathan Fogel is the Editor in Chief of Tribal Art Magazine, a journal on the arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (tribalartmagazine.com).