Time to trim? But where do you go? Item Number: 100014 $0.00

Description(Part 1 of 2 part series) I have been talking a great deal over the last couple weeks about how to buy, what to buy, etc., etc. Assuming you have been listening (a giant assumption), that leads to this weeks topic – what to do with all the things you no longer want in your collection?

There are a number of reasons a collector will one day decide to trim his collection. As dealers, we are seeing a plethora of collections available for sale. Some come to us through the passing of the former owner. Sadly, we are all just caretakers of our ancient art. At some time, our collections will need to be made available to other crazy people just like us. Others have come to us desperate for funds because this economy has kicked them in the butt. Still others are looking to remove the items from their collections that no longer fit with their collecting theme or strategy. Whatever the reason you decide to part with your items, there are right (and wrong!) ways to do it. Of course, the most obvious way is to have Artemis Gallery help you in this regard, but that sounds just a touch self-serving … so let’s explore some of your options.

I can think of 4 or 5 legitimate ways to dispose of a collection – and we have heard of a couple of “illegitimate” ways as well, but we will avoid talking about those. Here comes another of Bob’s famous lists…

1. Sell at auction. Many of us buy a great deal from the auction houses. I happen to know and greatly respect the department heads at Sotheby’s, Christies’ and Arte Primitivo. They know their stuff and offer very fine examples of ancient art from cultures around the world… which means they can also be a fabulous place to sell your art. If you own “important” examples of ancient art, the major auction houses may be the place for you to sell. The advantage is that you will get the absolute most eyeballs on your item(s) of any of the possible means of selling. In many cases, eyeballs translate directly into money, and that’s what this side of the game is all about. It also helps if you have a bit of a gambler’s mentality because in an auction setting you have a very large upside if you happen to be offering a piece that two or more people really want. Last week I referenced the Guennol Lioness. The pre-auction estimate was a mere $18 million, but because of its desirability (and the very deep pockets of 2 very aggressive bidders), it sold for 3x that estimate. We’ve seen this happen on many occasions. The converse of this also happens with aggravating frequency. We’ve seen and been involved with the sale of items with nice estimates, where there happens to be two similar pieces being sold. For some very strange reason, the other piece almost always dramatically exceeds its auction estimates while ours does not. Hmmm.

The downside of using an auction company is that you never know what the item will ultimately sell for – or if it will sell at all (as some pieces do not hit their reserve or worse yet, have no interest and are passed). What’s more, with the major auction houses, regardless of whether your piece(s) sell there are usually fees that will need to be paid – this may be negotiable so try to negotiate out of those fees! And of course, there is always a major timing issue. If you need funds fast, auction houses are usually not the right avenue. It can often take 6 months (or longer) between the times you send an item to auction, the item sells, and you receive your payment. It’s just the way it works!

2. Sell to a gallery. Most of what we offer for sale comes to us directly from a collector, or his/her family. The process can be quick and painless, or long and very drawn out, often depending on the circumstances of the collector. If you need money quickly, I strongly suggest this route as a transaction can be finalized in a matter of a day or two. But you also need to recognize upfront, this is not how you will get the most money, and you need to do some prep work if you don’t want to be totally taken advantage of (yes, sadly, there are dealers in this business who will take advantage of the weak – do your homework!) If you are selling to a dealer, it will help your cause if you know what your piece is worth. At least 5 times a week, someone will call or email me with a collection or piece and ask us “what is this worth?” If you send the pix of a Colima dog to 10 different galleries and ask them all – “What is this worth,” you will get 10 very different answers. Half of the dealers will assume you have no clue what you have and will try to get this for next to nothing. Another group will tell you right off that they will buy it when you present them with a fair price. And finally you MAY get one or two who will walk you through several scenarios of what the piece is worth – retail, wholesale, consigned, at auction, etc, with each price being legitimate, but not necessarily what he is willing to give YOU.

Do your homework and determine for yourself what the piece is worth. Recognize that dealers are business-people, and often very shrewd business-people, who are in this to make a little bit of money. They/we cannot afford to pay you full retail price for anything and stay in business. Most dealers work on what is called “keystone” – selling a piece at double the amount paid; however, many dealers try to work on even higher margins because of their higher overhead. If you are selling because of the economy, you should understand dealers are suffering the same fate and may not have the pockets to pay high amounts for some items, or there is such a glut of items being offered that they can be choosy and aggressive on the prices they offer. Don’t be offended (much) if you ask for $1000 and they offer $500. Negotiate! Get as much as you can, and if this dealer does not come through, try another. Dealers specialize, and maybe for whatever reason the first dealer wasn’t all that into your item(s) because it didn’t immediately fit his clientele. Maybe it will better fit the next dealer.

Check back next week for Part 2….

Happy collecting!

Bob Dodge