The Art of the Deal

THERE WAS POP ART. AND OP ART. NOW comes the latest postmodernist art form: Stock Art. Michigan entrepreneur Lawrence Wilsher is offering the public single shares, appropriately framed, of the Walt Disney Co. He sells the certificates not for their face value but rather for their worth as actual works of art -- replete with Walt's visage and images of such classic Disney characters as Bambi, Dumbo and Mickey. Wilsher's mixing of art and finance earned the scrutiny of the Securities and Exchange Commission, but the agency has confirmed that he does not have to register as a broker as long as he offers only framed certificates at well above market price. He charges $112, frame included, for a Disney share that brings $45 on the Big Board.