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It’s back to school week… what are you doing to educate yourself?
Item Number: 100030
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DescriptionThis week is my son’s first week back to school. Yes, it seems particularly early this year, and each year it gives Teresa and me pause to reflect on Alex getting another year older (he’s 14 seemingly going on 25) and us another year closer to quasi-parental freedom – if such a thing ever really exists.
The topic for this week’s “blog” is how we can better educate ourselves in this passion of collecting. Besides having our heads examined for ever getting involved in this addiction (Teresa has recommended this to me on numerous occasions, but that is entirely another subject we can delve into…), there are things we can do to better educate ourselves. A couple of areas of “continued elementary education” this week include:
- Resources for determining fair values for future acquisitions;
- Determining if your dealer(s) is everything you need them to be (as in honest, knowledgeable, a true partner in your growth);
Happy collecting!
- Homing-in on what to buy in your ancient art.
Admittedly, this week is aimed more at the beginning collector than at the advanced collector who has probably already been educated in the “antiquities school of hard knocks.” It’s rare for collectors who have been at this for many years to have not made mistakes, and this week we will try to help new collectors avoid some of the major pitfalls that may take you out of the game.
Resources for determining what to pay. As collectors of anything, it’s imperative to know what to pay for your specialty. It doesn’t matter if you collect stamps, coins, Old Master’s Art or antiquities; you simply have to know what things are worth before you buy them. There are major galleries in the world (one located on Rodeo Drive) who feel no qualms about charging up to 5x the market rate for their ancient art offerings. Perhaps it’s the rich and famous clientele they service, or the high cost of real-estate they have to pay for; whatever the reason, they are able to get away with it. As collectors, we have to know when the price is simply too much. About once a month we see antiquity collections from estates that were purchased at such places (often a decade or earlier). In far too many cases the going prices today are less than half what was paid years ago – and we have the joy of explaining that to the family… Here are a few resources to help educate you on what is a fair price:
- Auction Houses. Sotheby’s, Christies, Bonham’s, Arte Primitivo, even those who specialize in On-Line auctions (shameless plug for Artemis Gallery Live – Oct 2, 2010 auction…) have prices realized for past sales. If you subscribe to the catalogs to the major 3 companies you can download the auction results the day after the sale is completed. Or, if you are a bit Internet savvy you can do searches to find what similar items have recently sold for. For Sotheby’s, go to their “Sold Lot Archive” - and type in a 2 or 3 word description for the item you are considering. At Christies, search past sales by key word. As dealers, we often use these resources in pricing our goods. We don’t want to price anything at a price that will not generate a sale, or leave a ton of money on the table by under-pricing something.
- The Internet – in today’s global marketplace, most major galleries now have an Internet gallery. You can either Google by item description and see what pops up, or bookmark your favorite gallery – might we recommend “artemisgallery.com?”
- ArtFact.com. If you are a serious collector, you might want to consider ArtFact.com. They collect and report on sales prices realized in galleries and at the major auction houses. They charge a fee for this service but it may be worth the cost if you invest large sums or buy many items annually.
Determining if your dealer is a true resource, or a true crook. Among the many horror stories we see and hear each week, one that consistently makes my blood boil is when buyers of a certain New York gallery go to sell their precious items only to discover virtually every piece is a blatant fake. Sure, we can chalk it up to Darwinism and survival of the fittest, but that seems a bit harsh. These people were conned into trusting an individual who advertises in major national publications, self-promotes his gallery as “one of the world’s most trusted resources,” and boasts thousands of satisfied clients – at least all are satisfied until they discover the truth. So how can each of us protect ourselves from the S- - - - - Galleries of the world?- Electronic “Word of mouth.” The Internet is a wonderful tool for discovering the truth. Not only are there great chat rooms to discuss the attributes of art dealers, you can also use Google to look up most major dealers. One of our favorite sites to get the low-down on whether a dealer is good, or bad is the Yahoo ancient artifacts group. We recommend you become a member (free) and then ask the other members everything from whether the dealer you are buying from is among the good guys or the bad guys, to what they think of any particular eBay listing, to how they feel about laws protecting cultural patrimony. You can also post photos of items in your collection to get unbiased opinions on whether it is right, wrong or questionable. And Google can often tell you a great deal about a dealer. Just for fun I Googled “Sadigh Gallery” and before I was done entering the last letter, Google suggested Sadigh Gallery Fraud.” Shocking!
And finally, how do you know what to buy that’s right for YOU. There are hundreds of books, dozens of fabulous museums, hundreds of galleries, dozens of high-quality Internet sites all showcasing wonderful ancient art from countries and regions around the world. But only YOU will know when you are looking at something that truly strikes a cord. I have been preaching on this one for years, and hope to continue preaching this one for another few dozen years – BUY WHAT MAKES YOU SMILE! After you have satisfied yourself that an item is a fair value, and have determined the dealer is honest and sells legally acquired goods, next, think only about yourself. If you can hold an item in your hands for hours and marvel at the art, the style, the coloration, the surface, the iridescence, the patina, the technical skill necessary to create it, then this piece is right for you. Life is far too short to settle for “ho hum.” Demand perfection – as you define it!
Happy Collecting
Bob Dodge
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