by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
What do you do when you have a) stuff you don’t want anymore and when you need b) some extra cash? Why, you have a garage or lawn sale.
Such is also the fate of kings and celebrities. These folks have an unimaginable abundance of things and often a decided lack of the ready.
Like you, these mortals also die in due course; uninterested heirs take over, and they never liked Grannie the Queen’s china pattern; (though it was given by HRH your cousin the Grand Duke). They can also use the money and have been waiting a lifetime to get their white-gloved hands on it.
For such exalted folks, a table laden with old copies of “Mad Magazine” and the mitt your brother will be furious you sold (he never helped, so there) won’t do. These exalted ones have their own way of dispossessing and reaping. And the most famous auction houses on earth, starting with Sotheby’s (founded 1744) and Christies (founded 1766 ) help them do it… tastefully, efficiently, with pages of catalog provenance and always above all else, the History that doth hedge the royals (and the film stars, too); no less after their prime and power than during. Thus you, should you wish to possess the very goods and chattels of some of the most famous personages on earth must deal with the auction houses, too. This article ensures you will do so with confidence, efficiency and without a trace or suspicion that you are not either to the manner or the manor born.
Rule 1. Get all the catalogs for sale in your chosen field(s).
One mistake that way too many people make is to start their familiarization program with the grand sales. Error! These sales are too crowded; too much is going on; the staffs are pressed with too much to do and only a short window to do it. Thus to commence your education here is to prove how unready you are to attend such sales at all.
Instead start your crucial education with the auction houses’ standard sales in your field. Learn auction art and craft first from the unhyped auctions. Starting here will stand you in good stead.
Note: it should go without saying (but cannot) that you should retain these catalogs for your records; they will take a lot of space, but the information they provide is invaluable.
Rule 2. Make it a point to meet the auction house experts in your field.
These people are all knowledgeable, and constitute a vast treasure of useful information, not least for guidelines on what to pay for a lot and candid (though not always complete) condition reports. Such people, their knowledge, their familiarity with the various lot items is crucial to your success.
Rule 3. Create your own stable of advisors, including conservators and restorers.
While the auction house personnel are usually (but not invariably) excellent and most helpful, you will also need your own experts. Remember, at the end of the day, auction house personnel serve two masters, the auction house itself — and you. And you know what the Good Book says about that…
… which is why you need to have your own advisors. This will happen by referral… with the auction houses making the referral, if and only if you request it. Such recommendations are not given spontaneously. Thus you see how incestuous this industry is, with personnel jumping from one camp to the other. That’s why in the final analysis the expert you consult most often is Caveat Emptor.
Still other experts will come by referral from the various conservators and experts you consult — and pay for their work. These people, your crucial specialists will, in my estimation, give you appreciably better advice about the condition of any item and problem(s) you may acquire along with the lot itself. Like the auction houses, these folks should never give you advice and the benefit of their expertise sotto voce. Request and always get it in writing; e-mail, of course, has expedited this process.
Rule 4. Always be acquiring.
Having a collection means, among other things, never stopping the collection of the rare, the fantastical, the previously unobtainable. It means finding these scarcities, scrutinizing them well — before you purchase — and playing the poker of auctions better than the inveterate cognoscenti. What fun!
To collect a piece now and the next 5 or even 10 years later instantly drops you from connoisseur to duffer. People who create collections of note are indefatigable, always having something new to show and something “about to happen,” about which mum’s the word before the auction… becoming a tale of triumph immediately thereafter.
Rule 5. Set your limit and stick to it, yes, up to and bidding the highly desirable object au revoir.
The grand auctions, the auctions of house-hold names and illustrious dynasties, always cause ingenues and the out-of-control to overbid… and lament. You, however, are a collector, not a bank; this means you must always maintain a sense of good value… and fatal overpayment. This is not always easy to do.
Thus, with the assistance of your team of experts, set the top bid you will make. Then make sure you are either present to bid in person… or on the telephone. Keep your highest bid in front of you and bite your tongue if necessary to stay faithful to your (never sufficient) fund for purchases. Develop a philosophical attitude if you lose… because even this loss is not necessarily forever. The more familiar with your field; the more you see many objects auctioned… are re-auctioned later.
Start today
The catalogs are now available online and in paper for the next grand sale, items from the estate of the late Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. (Died 30 April, 1980). March 14-17, 2011 are the sale dates.
Her royal daughters are auctioning over 1,700 items, the proceeds to go to the Red Cross. While this is not as grand a sale as those recently held by other princes (Queen Juliana, as is well known, had simple tastes); still a royal sale is a royal sale, and there are some things which every royal collector will crave. I know. I’m one… and perhaps I shall see you there, implementing the very recommendations I have just given… you! Bonne chance!
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