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Jeffrey Hutton is a Morningstar contributor.

Tim Abdallah, national head of art at Menzies Art Brands, is optimistic. For the second time this year the auction house will put a new line of collectibles under the hammer, including work from Australian superstars Arthur Boyd and Brett Whitely.

If all goes to plan, the auction house will ratchet up sales of at least $11 million - sums not seen since the halcyon days of 2007 when hauls of $14 million in a single session were not uncommon.

What makes the auction, slated for 23 June, all the sweeter is that hordes of noveau riche, bent on conspicuous consumption, may be discouraged from participating. That's because changes under consideration by the federal government will make it harder for investors to dip into self-managed super funds (SMSFs) - swollen by resource and banking sector dividends - to surround themselves with latest Sidney Nolan that's come on the market.

"The market will suffer a bit but it was distorted," said Abdallah, recalling the buyers who crassly measured up the pieces under the hammer as an investment.

"We had a bit of fun at their expense. We didn't discourage them but we're used to people who can discuss the sensitivities of a piece."

New rules under consideration will require anyone who has bought art or collectibles as an alternative investment class in their SMSF to store the pieces outside of their residence within five years.

Strict rules apply to getting insurance within a week and valuations from certain experts, rather than, say, dealers who may be easier to find on such short notice.

The changes, which will be back dated to 1 July 2011 if they are approved, stem from calls aired in the Cooper review to ban art and collectibles as an asset class in SMSFs. Greens senator Christine Milne said last week such a prohibition would sap $100 million a year from Australian artists.

Art, as an alternative investment class in SMSFs, makes up a tiny proportion, perhaps as low as $400 million, of the roughly $400 billion under management by trustees, says Peter Burgess, national technical adviser of the Self-Managed Super Fund Professionals' Association of Australia (SPAA). Art competes with other alternatives, such as directly-bought gold.

A ban on art investment removes a "legitimate asset class" and, at any rate, misses the point of taking a long view on a piece from an up-and-coming artist, Burgess says.

SPAA is calling on the government to water down some of the insurance requirements, making them voluntary and allowing dealers to make valuations.

"Not all asset classes move the same way," Burgess says, stressing that art and collectibles ought to be part of a diversified portfolio.

"People who hold it usually have some knowledge of the sector," Burgess says. "They tend to be able to make informed decisions."

How art or collectibles stack up as an investment depends in part on informed decisions that meet your own goals, experts say.