Gone, to that gentlemen there ...

Gone, to that gentleman there...by Kishore Singh

Source: Business Standard

If you’re starting out as an investor, bidding at an auction could prove to be the smart way to start off an iconic collection.

This week, when another investor confirmed that the works in her art
collection had come mostly from various auction houses, I was forced to
look at why emerging collectors prefer to bid at auctions than buy from
galleries, at least when starting off.

Over the last few years, a number of young or budding collectors with a serious interest in art
have confessed to starting out with placing bids at auctions. On the
face of it, entering into the speculative world of auctions — you can
never be sure about the price till it is paid! — makes sense for the
veteran collector who may have spotted something that fills the void in
a collection, or completes it. But, why would newbies take their plunge
into what are best described as uncharted waters?

From their perspective, it makes a lot of sense for neophytes to begin testing
their skills at an auction. While the mandatory reading up and visits
to galleries remain essential for familiarising with the territory of
art and artists, an auction comes with its own inherent advantages, not
least of which is that the effort of selecting the best, most
representational works from a particular genre, or period, or of an
artist, has already been done by the experts at the auction house.

Contrary to popular belief, no prestigious auction house accepts all works
consigned to it for selling. That is something more likely to occur in
the weekend, garage-style auctions in ye olde England, but
international auction houses such as Bonham’s, Christie’s or Sotheby’s,
or home-grown ones such as Saffronart and Osian’s, evaluate each
painting, or sculpture, for its merit, and only accept those that are
in some way remarkable, or distinctive. This means that authorities on
art have already undertaken the selection, saving you a lot of time and
effort that such a process would otherwise have cost you — even with
the help of diligent dealers.

While it can be argued that not all works at any given auction are iconic works, you can be sure that
they do take the blood, sweat and tears out of the business of
collecting (though some might argue that it is precisely this that
makes it so much more interesting for them).

Equally important, or some might suggest even more so, is the paperwork the auction house
would have undertaken to ensure that its bonafides are kosher. It would
establish provenance, and have all the required papers to document the
line of ownership, any history of the work that is significant, and
take the guesswork out of everything from pricing (what you ultimately
pay is another matter) to a condition report, insurance and so on. In
the case of antiquities, in particular, the importance of the right
papers cannot be stressed enough

If you have bought works from an auction house, it does not guarantee against being landed with a
fake — though more transactions of fakes happen when buying from
(especially fly-by-night) dealers — but a successful bid comes with the
guarantee that if an auction house is found guilty of misinformation,
misrepresentation or having sold a lemon, it will take it back, no
questions asked, and refund the money.

At a time when the spectre of fakes haunts the Indian art market, the sanctity of this
cannot be stressed enough. Of course, any reputable gallery will refund
too if you have bought a fake from it, but many such deals happen
outside the ambit of galleries with little or no accountability.

When the S H Raza case of fakes broke last winter, it was fortuitous that no
works had been sold (the trickery was noticed by the artist himself at
the time of the exhibition’s opening) for it would have been difficult
to fix blame on the gallery, which had been asked by the artist to host
the show — so who would have taken the financial hit for it? I can’t
help suspecting that it is the buyer who would have suffered in the
transaction.

Chances are, you might end up paying a little (or a lot) more when you bid for a work at an auction, but the benefits may
outweigh that concern — particularly if how much you pay is not as much
the issue as the ability to pick up seminal works with which to start
off your collection. That’s worth more than just money.

These views are personal and do not reflect those of the organisation the writer is associated with.
Our thanks to Business Standard & Mr. Kishore Singh for giving us permission to add it here on Art Lab.
You can contact Mr. Singh here:
kishoresingh_22@hotmail.com