Investors.  

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Yes of course, some quite common place Danish things I've seen lately are getting amazing prices. Though I think a lot of it is still within the bounds of reason, it the ridiculous prices that odd things like lucite and brass 70's desk lamps go for that knock me off my feet.
Looking at the prices that a proper auction house gets for a piece rather than ebay or a retail outlet it usually strikes me that the auction house gets a moderate price for thing, its the fairer side of the market IMHO.
I also find a lot of dealers sleazy (thats just personal experience) and I detest it when they try to woo me when I know as much about what they're trying to sell me as they do.
The idea of investment is a funny thing though, I look at most of my stuff (theres getting to be an excess of it) as an investment in understanding how something was made or why it might have ended up where it did, so I don't really mind the odd bit of damage and my thinking is that if I can nab a chair for $25.OO thats worth $500.00 than I'm making a much more satisfying profit (but I have a brain the size of a pea for business and money).
Anyway I think good 20th C design will be a better investment than the contemporary art market, which is an accident waiting to happen.

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and the same goes for the property market which is not only silly but will cause long term social problems which no amount of contemporary art will fix!

Just one point though..
I agree with what you say HP but remember re. contemporary art...Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst works were in the top ten best performers/investments of last year according to Artnet. I assume that a lot of investors are looking to diversify from the property market. Its interesting to watch these changes in the market.

But the amount of...
But the amount of competition for young artists now seems so much more intense, its like picking a winner out of a horse race where theres a couple of hunded horses on the track. I'd be very anxious about investing in contemporary art.
Sketches and lithographs though, I think they have potential.
I suppose as the cliche goes buy what you love than you won't be disappointed

True..
It does seem to be the same old faces and names on the market i suppose. Its always good to see new talent whether its the design world or music or whatever.

To some extend the.....
"design" market has taken over the art market. I do not think that the reasoning behind it is "...that if it does not increase in value, at least you can sit on it..." but as HP points out there are so many horses in the race. We not are used yet, I guess, to the fact that there are more than a handful well known artists and that the quality if the piece is not in direct relation to the fame of the artist. In other words, one can find excellent pieces of (yet) unknown artists. As to design...I am sitting on the fence...as promessing as it looks, I can still see the possibility that at one point the taste changes....and with it the perceived value.