The gathering of holiday mementos is an ideal way to start collecting art for the home. Long after the photographs have been put into albums and hidden away a beautiful piece of art created by some local artist from the visiting region will remain on your wall as a point of interest for conversation in the many years ahead.

But where can you buy art? What's the best place?

Art for the home can be found absolutely anywhere, from local markets to one of the many cafes in tourist locations that often act as a gallery for a local artist. Some amazing pieces of local art are often found in souvenir shops along your journey. But the two places I mostly like to buy art from are eBay and private collectors.

Buying Art From Ebay

The great thing about buying art on eBay is that you can usually buy for reasonable prices. This is good for the art investor, because he knows that if he makes a mistake, at least he hasn't risked a huge sum of money. Ebay has become the place to go for good deals so except in rare cases, you get a good deal for you money.

In addition, many artists like to sell on eBay - mostly because it's one of the rare places where they can have their work seen by potentially hundreds of people. Artists are mostly desperate to have their work seen and because of this, art collectors can often "steal" works or art from unknown artists before they are discovered.

The downside of buying art on eBay is the whole eBay art fraud thing.

Some sellers, and no one knows exactly how many, will outright lie about the art they are selling. They'll state that a piece of art is an original even though it isn't. They'll place fake signatures on paintings to make them seem more valuable to the bidders and drive up the bid price. They'll forge paintings or prints and sell them for whatever they can get with the secure knowledge that they won't have to pay a heavy price if they get caught.

If you're a novice art buyer, and you're thinking of buying an expensive piece of art, eBay is probably not for you.

Private Art Galleries

Private galleries are a great place to buy art. But you don't want to buy from just anyone. You want to find out who the best dealers are in your particular art niche. For example, if you are interested in Native American art, you want to find the best dealers in that market. Once you find who they are, you want to begin to develop relationships with them. Doing this will not only help you when you get to the price haggling point, it will also ensure that you're first on their "call list" when they get a new piece of art in.

In addition, a good dealer can help guide you in your art acquisitions by giving you their expert and honest opinions on which pieces are most likely to appreciate in value and which artists are likely to become more popular in years to come.

Wherever you decide to buy, just make sure that you love the piece you buy regardless of whether it will increase in value or not. That way you will never be disappointed in your purchase.