I was privileged to recently observe a pair of Yixing terracotta teapots, each one about as big as orange, one of which had a cracked handle, sell for $7,200 when two telephone bidders competed for ownership. The estimate was $180 for the pair, and bidding had started at $120.
As would be expected, those attending were dumbfounded and silently asked themselves...... "how come?"
At Art + Object's sale of Important Paintings & Contemporary Art on 12 April in Auckland, there was a similar situation when several internet and phone bidders competed for a Banksy screenprint. Girl with Balloon, (Lot 13 ). With a print run of 600, it sat silently at lot 13 in the 85 lot catalogue with an estimate of $30,000 - $50,000, slightly on the high side I thought to myself. On the opening bid of $35,000 I sat bolt upright and heard the next bid from the internet called at $50,000. Bids from the room and phones just kept coming and the ''limited edition'' two colour screen print finally sold for $66,000 to somebody out in telephone land.
That was, according to my frames of reference one of those "moments of significance" that changes one's perspective on how we need to constantly move forward and to ''keep our finger on the ever-increasing pulse of change''.
The sale had got off to a slow start, and a second out of character cold front was sweeping through the North Island. This could have contributed to the low attendance of about 75, and put a dampener on the end results for an auction house that has done so well in the recent past.
However, there were some bright spots amongst the 85 lot offering.
A violent abstract work by wild man Allan Maddox (Lot 11 ) sold well, perhaps because of its association with artist Tony Fomison, while a large 200 x 200 cm square Untitled work (Lot 14 ) by Dale Franks fetched $41,500 just creeping over the low estimate of $40,000.
A classic Gretchen Albrecht hemisphere, entitled Syrena (Lot 35 ) estimated at $22,000 - $32,000 sold for $28,000 slightly below the high estimate.
Michael Smither's fine painting, Orange Flowers in a Blue Vase (Lot 45 ) created sparks when it was presented for sale. Estimated at $50,000 - $70,000, the work attracted an opening bid of $35,000 increasing by $19,000 to finally sell at $54,000.
There were two works that fell short of their high expectations.
Rita Angus' Journey from 1962 (Lot 49 ) failed to ignite the room and was sold subject to vendor confirmation for $210,000, well short of the $300,000 - $450,000 estimate.
This was followed by the cryptic McCahon painting entitled Beach Walk, Series 5 Ahipara (Lot 50 ) with an estimate of $850,000 - $1,250,000. This five panel work in numerous shades of grey fell far below expectations, selling to a phone bidder for $650,000, subject to vendor confirmation.
As a consequence I left the sale room somewhat deflated after the 85 lots and braced myself for the long journey home. As I drove through the violent wind and sleet I thought to myself if I had any spare money I would take my dear mother's advice and ''put it in the Bank see..... it will be safe there''
