Yep, that’s Claude on the left, Morgan in the middle, and me on the right, with one of the top art dealers in the country, who came to bid at our auction, at one of our Black Tie Auction Events in Nevada City. I’ll give you an idea of what YOU need to know about art auctions.
1. Only buy what you know. Don’t try to outguess the experts. If you’re interested in Renoir etchings and/or lithographs, find out all you can about them, what he did, when he did it, how he worked and what his kids did when he died, to really louse up the estate and the art at one and the same time. One example of this “only buy what you know” rule are certainly any Renoirs. If it looks as if it’s signed, it isn’t — the kids had a stamp made — and it definitely is NOT a lifetime impression! Degas is even trickier to collect, and for Dali, you’d better have an expert right on hand. Never buy a Rembrandt that’s in a frame, and that goes for Gauguin, double!
2. What is your real goal? Are you interested in acquiring great art? Are you really only looking for a bargain, to buy something worth more than you paid for it? Or are you trying to assemble a collection of serious and important art that fits your budget? Perhaps you have the idea of receiving some sort of tax credit or deduction from your income tax. All these and more are good and sound reasons to acquire fine art at a charity auction, but keep in mind that the primary purpose of the event is to raise money for the charity or charities. Acquiring fine art is best handled privately, with your curator doing the finding and authentication part, long before you jump in there with the checkbook.
3. Know how and when to bid. I can guarantee with cash money behind my bet that I can get something at a public auction cheaper than you can get it. Why? Because I’ve bought at hundreds of auctions, everything from Sotheby’s & Christie’s all the way to local outdoor auction/barbeque bashes and yes, it’s a great idea to have one of those in nice weather, but be sure you have tent top cover for your crowd and your art. There are a lot of things you need to know in live auction bidding, one of which is ….. ….. …… ….. timing.
4. Have a limit on your bids. Decide how much you’re willing to spend on it, and when it goes beyond that, be a Buddhist, and LET IT GO!!!
5. Put a Halter on your Emotions. When bidding, you need to be clear of any and all emotional content. Concentrate on the bidding, learn the timing of the auctioneer, try to land your bids at the second count before the hammer — if you don’t know the drill, WATCH THE ICW THIS SATURDAY.
6. Put a Budget Capper on for the whole shebang. Yeah, that’s right, I said a Budget Capper, meaning no more than you can comfortably afford to put out for a charity event, and if you’re thinking tax breaks, talk to your tax person before counting on it very much.
7. Watch for up & coming new artists. Here’s where you have the opportunity to acquire a painting, sculpture or work on paper from an up and coming young artist, and this is really the best way to collect anything contemporary. For guidance in choosing the art and artists, merely ask at the ICW, and I’ll make some suggestions based on your particular art collecting needs or intention. The answers vary according to what you want to accomplish, see?
IF YOU ARE HOSTING AN AUCTION, you’ll need to know the following facts:
1. Everything in the auction is guaranteed “as stated”, which means, it’s exactly what the description says it is. We guarantee it 100%. In fact, we insist on sending the item to a third party of the buyer’s choice (within a circle of recognized experts) for authentication and verification that it is the piece in the description of the COA.
2. You will need to learn how to “see” bids on the floor and report them to your Floor Manager, who notes the bids, calls them off for the recorder, who writes them down. There is a second recorder on the tv studio auction floor who also records these winning bids and paddle numbers as they are called off in Real Time to the Home Auction Floor by the Bidding Box Floor Manager.
Gosh, I hope that’s clear. On reading it back to myself, which I seldom do, I note that it might be a bit confusing, but never fear — Claude and I will be doing a LIVE DEMO of this action at the ICW.
3. If you hope to conduct an auction the way I do it, you’ll need a number of specialized skills — a sense of fun and a good comedy delivery is probably your number one weapon of choice, but you also need to know exactly what you’re selling, not what someone told you it was.
It’s too easy to accept an “expert’s” opinion on a work of art, but there’s nothing that beats knowing what you’re looking at. I have at hand hundreds of catalog raisonne textbooks, some of which cost thousands of dollars, but they’re all worth it if you’re buying and selling and trading artwork all the time, which I am.
Here Are My Areas of Expertise:
I can curate and authenticate the following artists’ works on paper:
Miro, Chagall, Picasso, Matisse, Manet, Dali, Renoir, Rembrandt, van Ostade, Ruisdael, Bemmel, Degas, Braque, LeGros, Durer, MacLaughlin, Thomas Hart Benton, Soyer, Goya, and many, many more including all the moderns and many of the more important American Contemporary artists. I am a specialist at Art Deco, Hudson River Valley Painters, Pop & Op Art, “The Los Angeles Nine” of which I was a member during the wild 1960s, and of course I have many pieces by my friends in the so-called “New York School”, or “Cedar Bar Group”. If someone is inclined to give a donation in seven figures, I could be persuaded to dig out my original deKoonings. I will be offering a very unusual signed FRANK O’HARA book of poetry, and items like that are hard to find.
— Casual Art Auction, Saturday Afteroon Nevada City —
BTW, I was the only member of the group to actually have a show at the Cedar Bar, which was covered by all the major metropolitan NYC newspapers, what a story! Almost every one of the few surviving members of the New York School was there!
I work from several very large and important collections, plus a number of estates. I do not personally profit from any part of the art auctions; I donate many pieces and do not accept compensation for them. It’s part of what I do, and I won’t listen to reason.
The artists who contribute their art to this fundraising effort do in fact have the option of donating the pieces outright or receiving an honorarium when a piece of theirs sells. They generally receive a small but honorable percentage of the selling price.
I don’t want to leave out the most important part of any art auction, the Fun Factor. Truth is, it’s really fun to see great art going out to folks who never dreamt they’d be able to own something like that, and better yet, to pass it on to future generations, not just the art itself, but the Art of Collecting Art.
What is the Great Secret of Collecting Great Art?
Boy, I wish you hadn’t asked me that. My best answer; collect the art you like, the art with which you want to live every day. If you buy art because it’s going to go up in price, but it makes you retch to see it hanging on the wall, you did not understand the instructions.
See You At The Top!!!
gorby