Recently a documentary was watched on a possible new Leonardo da Vinci painting. The best known painting is the Mona Lisa and there are not many paintings by Mr. da Vinci, although the ones that exist are extra special. An art dealer thought the painting was special, but no idea it was that special. After he bought the painting  he began to wonder why is it special? There were few clues on the painting and to verify it a number of steps had to be done. The material the painting was on was carbon dated to the correct period. A forger was introduced to the show how forgeries are done. The forger buys an inexpensive painting that has all the correct art dealer seals, removes the paint and repaints the canvas to the more expensive piece. This was to show just because one piece of the puzzle fits in, other parts of the equation must be determined. The hairpiece of the lady of the painting (a relative of Mona Lisa) was figured out to be the correct era and more important the painting was photographed so it every inch of the painting could be used to examine it and to find out where the painting came from. The painting came from an very old book to celebrate the lady’s marriage and the book for the past century has rested in a very restricted library. By the end of the documentary all the analysis agreed the painting was one painted by Leonardo da Vinci which meant the value of the painting went from thousands to millions.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, to find special stocks is less work than finding and securing an expensive painting. With the painting, the concern of forgery is overriding, with special stocks start with do they pay a dividend? As with the painting as you determine your expectations and what you do not want, the list gets narrower. In the end you have a number of stocks which produce a dividend and meets your other demands which equates to you can not have a bad decision but a choice among equals.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions