August 2012

Okay, so it has been a little while since I went thought and posted a new article. It has been the off season for sales and so I went through compiled a list things I wanted to write about and this was the top of my list, especially since it is about to start with a new Art Auction season.

With this upcoming auction season, I know that there will be some things that go up for sale that are going to bring some very high dollar figures and some that won’t. As someone who writes about what happens in the art auction world, I would like to give my list of what to look for and what to avoid this next year as you might be looking to purchase works.

First, I would seriously avoid things that were mass produced. This goes without saying that the things that were mass produced will not be worth as much, now and for the long term. Sure you may find the rare mass produced item that the vast majority of produced objects could have been lost or destroyed over time, like a Dürer print (which I would buy an earlier work of his over a later work, but if I were to buy or recommend to by a later work, then make sure it is an earlier series of that work or print) but I would highly suggest to stay away from things like Picasso’s later works. There are SO many of them out there that were mass produced during his lifetime that there is really no value to the work, the only thing that you would be paying for is his signature…and sometimes that is even nothing more than a rubber stamp. If you were to do a work by him, buy something from his early years of cubism or from his rose or blue periods.

I would also stay away from a lot of modern contemporary works. Unless you know for a fact that the artist just received a life changing award or commission to creat some piece, the returns on the work are way too risky. There is no promise that there is financial return on the work and the chances of the work staying stagnate in value or maybe worse, actually decreasing in value are highly possible. True, you could be the luckiest person in the world on a gamble and buy a piece at dirt sale prices and the artist blows up, but the chances of that are not very high. If you are buying a work just because you like the artistic beauty of it though, that is a completely different story, just make sure that the art work is real and not a copy or a fake and this can be dome by knowing the history of the work.

However, if you, as a buyer, would like to do some smart investing, I would suggest to go with artists that you know or may have heard of before, maybe something from the 1800s or early 1900s, and find something that is rather one of a kind or something that is of a limited edition (especially for prints or photographs). For artists from the 1800s, try and find the sketches they had done of their more famous works, things that show their idea process unfolding. These are becoming more and more rare as time passes as more and more of them are being lost, accidentally destroyed or are falling into collections. Sometimes, with a little research, you can even make a connection between just a sketch that they might have gotten for a low price and then connect it to a master piece.

I would suggest to lean this year towards sketches and lesser known works by famous artists, which sounds like it would either be a no brainer or an insane idea, but it would depend on how you look at it. If one would take the example of the hand written notes by Leonardo Da Vinci. They, today, are priceless. However, Many years ago, they weren’t seen as nearly as valuable as what they are today. Now of course they are not worth as much as let’s say the Mona Lisa, but they are still worth so much more than anyone would or could have ever dreamed. I can see that the sketches and notes by Manet and other impressionists all the way through Dada artist like Max Ernst to pop icons like Richard Hamilton and Andy Warhol someday reaching prices that would make any investor or his/her future family very happy.

June 2012

There are two things that I want to talk about in this article.  One is the action happening at Christie’s on June 12th at 1pm in London of Rock & Roll Memorabilia. Some of the items include Jeff Beck’s guitar and case (Lot #2), a collection of Jimi Hendrix items (Lots 18-25), one of Buddy Holly’s shirts (Lot #26), some of Michael Jackson’s items (Lots 27-31) to a pair of Madonna’s boxer shorts that she wore in the 1985 Orion Pictures file Desperately Seeking Susan (Lot #38) and a signed LP and poster by Nirvana.

One of my favorite pieces is a posted of Bob Dylan (Lot #53) The estimate price is $460-$770.  The poster is one of a kind and beautiful.  Christie’s has the Lot description as follows:

“Psychedelia/Bob Dylan – Two promotional poster, one featuring Bob Dylan Mister Tambourine Man, 1967, and Donovan, Sunshine Superman, 1966, art by Martin Sharp — both 30x20in and framed.

Bob Dylan Mister Tambourine Man, 1967

There are a lot of other really amazing things in this auction that such as a fanzine from the Sex Pistols.  This fanzine is of their classic “Anarchy in the U.K.”.  The fanzine is amazing.  It is of you classic 1980s punk rock girl, included with a bi-hawk, a skull earring in her left ear, the eye make up…the full works. Everything works with this cover, except for it’s condition.  The corners and edges look fine, however, there is a huge cease in the middle of the publication.  On the left side of the fanzine there is some major discoloration around the fold  and on the right side of the post, it looks like there are a couple of holes along the fold.

Now the fanzine (Lot #113 Est. price of $769-$1,075) is beautiful, printed by none other than ZigZag and it features the photos by Ray Stevenson of the Pistol’s trip to Paris in 1976. It is 17x12in.

Now the thing is that there are a lot of signed pieces, from the Beatles (Lennon, Harrison, Star and McCarthy) to the Rolling Stones.  Now I don’t doubt that Christie’s had the signatures verified…but they don’t say this anywhere.  Now I trust the company, yet I have also worked in the music industry.  I know that when you have an autograph book and bring it to a show, the last thing on  your mind is “How am I going to verify that this is so-and-so’s signature???” Yet, I personally would feel better about the sale if Christie’s would just mention that yes, the signatures have been verified as authentic. If they can’t be authenticated or the auction house is going to fail to provide that information for the general public prior to the sale, then how do we know they are real or how are to know we are not going to spend several hundred to thousands of dollars on a piece of paper.

Okay, the next auction I would like to talk about is the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale in London on June. 19th 2012 at Sotheby’s. This sale is going to be amazing.  There will be some beautiful works from Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Edvard Munch, Joan Miro and works from the Private collection of Mr. and Mrs. John D Rockefeller 3rd which includes works by Pierre Bonnard and Paul Signac.

The other collections are from individual artist like the collection of Eight Watercolours by Wassily Kadinsky, while there are single pieces by partist like Picasso, Henry Moore, Otto Dix, Alfred Sisley, Edgar Degas, van Gogh and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. These works are beautiful, simply breath taking.  This collection that Sotheby’s has is  collection that I would like to have in my own personal collection. Now, these pieces are not as noteworthy as what one would see in the MoMA or the Louvre, but these works are still as breath taking as ever and when the artist is still in their prime, or at the end of their prime (not as the other article where we saw artist being sold 40-60 years after their prime), and each one of the works is well worth their asking prices.

Claude Monet – The Seine at Bougival c. 1869

 

For Further information on the Sotheby’s Auction, please click the link.

For Further information on the Christie’s Auction, please click the link.