| Thirteen
of the Questions Most Frequently Asked Me
by confused collectors who
know I worked thirteen years in an auction house:
|
| 1. |
How
can it save me money to ask a professional to bid
for me at auction?
An experienced bidder can hear when there is real
interest from the room or the phone and can also
tell when no one is really bidding except the
auctioneer (in behalf of the owner). In the
latter case you are not really in a competitive
situation, i.e., the cost of the work is not
market driven. If you are simply bidding against
the owner, you may well be paying too much. |
| 2. |
Why
should I ask a professional advisor to examine a
work for me before I buy?
A professional advisor will
always check the condition report for a work
before bidding. These conditions reports are
usually available at good auction houses, but you
have to ask for them. Don't just assume that
because condition is not mentioned in the
catalogue that a work is in good condition. A
good advisor will also look at the work in person
and evaluate the condition, compare how the work
actually looks with the illustration in the
catalogue (the difference can be shocking
sometimes). If any questions arise on personal
examination it may be necessary to engage a
professional restorer to provide an additional
report, for a fee. This can be money well spent
since auction houses freely admit that their own
cataloguers are not professional restorers and
that the in-house condition reports they prepare
are only the result of a superficial examination
under an ultra violet lamp. Certainly the auction
personnel do not make any claims about what
cleaning or repairs can or cannot be safely
attempted on a work they are offering, and the
advice of a restorer may be invaluable in
determining whether a painting that is not in
perfect condition can be safely restored. Some
works should not be touched, so if you are not
satisfied with the way a work looks "as
is" you should check with a restorer before
you buy, not after. |
| 3. |
How
reliable are pre-sale estimates? Are auction
prices always wholesale?
A professional advisor will compare what's
"on the block" with what's available
"on the market." Record prices are just
that: the highest public price ever paid for a
particular object. This is nice for the seller,
when it happens, but if you are a buyer you can
be paying over retail! I always remember when I
buy at auction, that I was the person in the room
willing to pay more than 600 or 700 people! This
is fine in the case of a masterpiece, like the
Frida Kahlo, Diego and I, that I bought in 1990
for only $1,430,000 (the good old days), but not
necessarily so smart for works readily available
at galleries and art fairs. |
| 4. |
What
should I consider when I buy at auction? Or from
a dealer?
A professional advisor will discuss with you the
five most important points to remember when
considering the purchase of a work or art:
quality, rarity, condition, provenance and price.
No one of these points is sufficient to warrant
overlooking the others. All of these points
should figure into your decision, even if you
decide to make allowances in special cases. For
example, if a work were extremely rare, you might
have to accept a less than perfect state of
preservation. But it would seem imprudent to buy
a readily available work in less than fine
condition. |
| 5. |
What
is provenance? How important is it?
Provenance - literally, where a work came from
before is always important. It is never a bargain
to acquire a work with unknown or dubious
provenance, no matter how reasonable the price.
On the other hand, provenance can cost you money.
I have seen collectors succumb to mass hysteria
in the fever to acquire a shred of something that
belonged to someone famous. That is why some
cookie jars that belonged to Andy Warhol went for
$25,000 in the celebrated Andy Warhol single
owner sale at Sotheby's. And worn ballet slippers
that were used by Rudolph Nureyev fetched
thousands of dollars whereas ordinary slippers
would be worth nothing. That is provenance at
work and it is something that auction houses
exploit superbly. But if all you want is a
collectable cookie jar you can save a lot of
money by waiting for an ordinary auction at
Christie's East or by hitting the flee markets. |
| 6. |
If
the price is low, am I getting a bargain?
In fact a really low price should sound an alarm
in some situations. Never buy something because
you are given a story that the owner is in great
distress and is willing to sell cheaply if the
money comes quickly. I have frequently seen fakes
offered in such cases and have personally saved a
few collectors many thousands of dollars when I
was consulted beforehand about
"bargain" pictures. The trouble is,
many buyers are convinced that they do not have
time to go through the methodical and prudent
procedures they would employ in normal
situations, and this is when big mistakes can be
made. In fact, it is exactly what the pressure
salesmen are relying on. Never suspend your
judgment because a price seems cheap. Don't think
that because you are dealing with art it is any
different from your normal life. If someone
offered you a house or a piece of land at a great
price you would still check the title and have
the property professionally examined before you
paid the seller. Why would you behave differently
in the case of an artwork? |
| 7. |
If
the price is high, am I being cheated?
Price should be a consideration but not the only
one. I have seen many collectors pass on great
paintings because they thought the price was too
high and then go on to form very mediocre
collections. These collections are usually hard
to resell because they are just merchandise. Some
of the finest and ultimately most valuable
collections I have seen were put together by
collectors who understood that sometimes paying
the price pays off. When markets fall off, it is
generally the exceptional works that hold their
value. |
| 8. |
If
I notice a painting in an auction going way below
the estimate, should I buy it? Isn't that a
bargain?
Not necessarily. Certainly bargains can come up
at auctions and a prepared buyer can get a great
buy if for some reason the owner's reserve, or
minimum price is very low. But if a work seems to
be going cheaply it may just be that the estimate
is too high and the auctioneer is having trouble
getting buyers into the bidding, even if the
price seems ridiculously low to you. If you enter
in at that point, you may just be bidding against
the auctioneer, who is acting for the seller. If
you haven't done any comparison shopping in
relation to that lot you could be making a
mistake. Also, if you bid on something that you
didn't examine first, you are making the classic
mistake of novice auctiongoers: bidding on
impulse. Maybe the picture is in bad condition,
and that's why no one is bidding. Maybe the
attribution is doubtful and other bidders have
been warned off. You wouldn't know, because you
didn't check with anyone first. So be careful
about bidding on works that you weren't thinking
about acquiring before you entered the saleroom. |
| 9. |
If
I buy the most expensive works in a sale, I'm
buying the best, right?
No, sometimes the best works go very high, but
sometimes flukes occur. In several cases I
observed very small but nice works going for way
over the estimated prices, immediately after a
large important work by the same artist did very
well. A small work by the popular Nicaraguan
artist, Armando Morales, went for almost $100,000
in one of the recent sales, right after a large
and important work by the same artist went very
high. The price for the large work was
justifiable, but the small work was way over
priced (a friend of mine refused an opportunity
to buy the very same picture directly from the
owner this summer for $40,000) and I suspect the
purchaser will have a difficult time getting his
money back should he try to resell the painting
any time soon. I have seen postage stamp sized
Tamayo paintings of watermelons (the most sought
after subject) go for over $100,000 at auction
(stocking stuffers, perhaps?) which couldn't
possibly be sold for that amount now, and I have
seen mediocre, atypical works by Frida Kahlo
fetch crazy prices in the second day sale
($100,000 for an early watercolor in 1990) right
after a record price was established in the night
sale for one of her masterpieces. Auction fever
drives these prices up and the fear (incorrect)
that it will never again be possible to acquire a
work by an artist who is suddenly doing well. The
truth is that there is always an opportunity to
buy again at the correct price - you may just
have to wait awhile for the right opportunity to
present itself. But buying rashly out of
desperation is not good idea and it can be
costly. |
| 10. |
So
if I wait until after the sale and see what
didn't sell, I can really get a bargain?
Not necessarily. I was recently
asked this question by a client of my gallery who
thought that a painting by a famous artist that
was bought in for less than half of what it sold
for a few years ago would be a bargain if he
could get it for the price at which it was passed
over in the sale. I explained to him that it was
really necessary to consider if the picture had
been sold at the right price the first time round
or if had been inflated for some reason. I
checked the 1992 price marked in my catalogue
(not the published price in the pricelist, which
is 10 to 15% higher because of the buyer's
premium) and it turned out that the painting had
indeed sold for twice as much in 1992. However, I
pointed out that the price it fetched the first
time was exactly the low estimate and that I had
noted in my catalogue that the purchaser in 1992
was one of the big new (inexperienced) buyers who
had been bidding against the auctioneer only (no
other bidders) and had paid what was probably the
owner's reserve price. Now that this buyer was
forced by circumstances to become a seller, the
auction house had advised him to set a much lower
minimum price than the price he himself had paid
three years earlier, and still the work was not
sold. My advice to the collector seeking to make
a deal after the sale was that the seller had
paid too much originally and that even at half
the price, the painting was not really a bargain.
|
| 11. |
How
come my reserve was $150,000 and my picture was
sold for $140,000?
A friend of mine who consigned a work to one of
the recent auctions approached me after the sale,
somewhat bewildered because he believed his
painting was unsold since the bidding did not
reach his minimum, yet he heard someone near him
say he had bought the painting. I was sure that
the work had been sold because I heard the
auctioneer call out a paddle number. I suggested
that my friend check with the department, since
sometimes the auctioneer will let a work go for
less than the owner's minimum because he knows
that if you add up the selling comission (6 to
10%) and the buyer's premium (15% on lots
bringing $500,000 and 10% of the remainder) there
is 20 to 25 percent commission to
"play" with. He can decide to cut the
house's commission, pay the owner as if the work
had been sold for the agreed minimum and still
make some profit. This is usually done in close
situations when the sale does not seem to be
going well and the auctioneer knows that he has
only one "live" buyer in the room. He
can keep bidding against that person in behalf of
the owner and risk the outcome that the bidder
stops before the reserve is reached, or he can
"fold his hand" when he gets near the
reserve price and take a little less commission
for the auction house. |
| 12. |
Why
are you telling us all your secrets in a free
newsletter?
In 26 years (13 at a prestigious New York auction
house and 13 running a gallery) I have actually
acquired a few more secrets than can be fit into
a six page newsletter. |
| 13. |
Any
other reason?
Yes. I think the more informed a collector is the
better and I am happy to make my own experience
available to those who seek my advice. Sometimes
the best deal is at auction, sometimes it is at a
gallery. Sometimes the best paintings go to
auction, sometimes they are sold privately. An
informed collector will check out the major
auction houses, the reputable art fairs, and the
galleries. We're very patient. We can wait for
you. |
|
Mary-Anne
Martin Winter 1996 |
|
