Auction Report

Rembrandt etching- 1641

I’m still coming down from last night’s auction. It was fantastic, and as usual, I learn things every time.
I know instinctively that things sell by region. Some things that I can sell could not be sold in the Toronto market and vice versa. There are of course favorites everywhere.
Among my long held concerns is the lack of understanding of three dimensional art, sculpture, in any region. We have forgotten how to look at work unless it’s flat. Sculpture classes in most places have disappeared, as we become a flat world. As well, people have no place to put sculpture, even when they do. They simply don’t recognise the space. It was harder to sell it last night and while we did sell a few pieces, our three passes of the night were three dimensional ones.
Old favorites sold well, although I was a bit disturbed by lower prices in some cases.
My secondary market pieces are doing well and we have developed an audience for “old stuff”. I’ve tried very hard since my arrival here 13 years ago to develop donor consciences that we will be happy to recycle old art. This year one of my own pieces was returned and sold again. It sold six years ago and it sold last night. We have tried to emphasize to downsizing families that we are a great place to “dispose “ of art work you no longer have room to store or a family that wants it.
The “star” of this group was the Rembrandt etching, a 1641 piece with a bit of deterioration to two corners, but easily restorable if the buyer would like it done. I took it from a plastic sleeve and had it framed. I checked to feel the ink to make sure it was an etching and not a clever digital copy. The paper was so fragile that I wanted to inflict as little damage as possible. While I cannot guarantee it was printed by Rembrandt himself, as prints were pulled from these plate for some years t come, it clearly was very old, and the correct size. A 19th century copy was made at a slightly larger size.
The bidding for this last piece of the night was intense. Because of great newspaper publicity, we had a large crowd who all waited for this last piece to be sold. The auctioneer, our favorite and well worth the cost of admission alone, asked me to come up and speak about the Rembrandt. I was prepared, having spoken to so many people about it for a few months, that it was fun to tell my story. I bid one dollar to get it started, this gave a funny opening for the auctioneer.
The tension grew with the price and in the end it was a battle of words and money, a battle between the last two bidders. I knew both bidders and had spoken to both of them about the piece. It was fun to watch for everyone. The final bid was $11,000.
Most of us were delighted, given our concerns. A few were surprised it went so low. People never agree on these things. We had been guessing about what we thought it would do and this exceeded all our expectations.
It will take a week or two to get final numbers on the 1300 pieces of art sold by silent and live auction as well as hundreds of pieces of pottery “seconds” we sell as well. I know this; it was one hell of a night!

added thought: I just remembered, there was a new wrinkle in last night's auction,, I-Phones! People were seen looking up values etc. on their cell phones etc. as the night wore on. This is the first year I have seen this happen. It is a changing world.