The Auction House Rules
Today was an untypical Saturday. I got to buy art, a first for me, and pay for it with someone else's money, which was both a plus and a minus. Plus, because, well, it wasn't my money I was spending. Minus, because I was spending someone else's money.
And, I have to admit, being the hick that I am this was the first auction I've been to that wasn't selling tractor blades and rusty rabbit traps. There was honest to goodness art on them thar walls, some of it with an estimated price tag of $40,000 or more. No Sotheby's, sure, but it impressed me.
Country yokel, remember.
My budget wasn't near that of course. I went with almost $3,000 dollars near bursting my wallet's stitching, on behalf of my dad, who seems to be becoming a bit of a collector in his mid middle age. Fancies turning a room of his house into a private gallery, but anywho... I enjoyed myself, once I got over a (intentionally) paralysing fear that the slightest eyebrow twitch or nose scratch would signal a bid to the auctioneer. Hey, it's all experience, maybe one day it will work itself into a story. And when it came to it, bidding turns out to be pretty fun. It's like gambling. Just like you wanna pull that slot on the machine, you wanna raise your hand and nod at each increment of 50, 100, 500 dollars.
Not that I gamble, it's a mug's game, and not that I got carried away here either - someone else's money - but I did spend nearly all of it, and came back with three pieces, one a Norman Lindsay illustration, which was the main target of the trip. They're hanging on me wall right now, and will stay there until my dad visits town. Again, not a whole lot of money spent I suppose, but I'm someone who agonizes over parting with 50 bucks.
The only real low point of the day was lugging three bulky framed artworks around on public transport for the next 2 hours.
And, I have to admit, being the hick that I am this was the first auction I've been to that wasn't selling tractor blades and rusty rabbit traps. There was honest to goodness art on them thar walls, some of it with an estimated price tag of $40,000 or more. No Sotheby's, sure, but it impressed me.
Country yokel, remember.
My budget wasn't near that of course. I went with almost $3,000 dollars near bursting my wallet's stitching, on behalf of my dad, who seems to be becoming a bit of a collector in his mid middle age. Fancies turning a room of his house into a private gallery, but anywho... I enjoyed myself, once I got over a (intentionally) paralysing fear that the slightest eyebrow twitch or nose scratch would signal a bid to the auctioneer. Hey, it's all experience, maybe one day it will work itself into a story. And when it came to it, bidding turns out to be pretty fun. It's like gambling. Just like you wanna pull that slot on the machine, you wanna raise your hand and nod at each increment of 50, 100, 500 dollars.
Not that I gamble, it's a mug's game, and not that I got carried away here either - someone else's money - but I did spend nearly all of it, and came back with three pieces, one a Norman Lindsay illustration, which was the main target of the trip. They're hanging on me wall right now, and will stay there until my dad visits town. Again, not a whole lot of money spent I suppose, but I'm someone who agonizes over parting with 50 bucks.
The only real low point of the day was lugging three bulky framed artworks around on public transport for the next 2 hours.