BARGAINS ARE EVERYWHERE!!!
COLLECTORS ALWAYS DEMAND A BARGAIN AND DEALERS LOVE A BARGAIN. WHEN SCANNING FOR BARGAINS AND SOMETHING TO COLLECT YOU MUST GO THROUGH MANY CATALOGUES FOR MANY HOURS AND DAYS IN ORDER TO SPOT ONE. THAT IS NORMAL, IF YOU ARE INDEED SERIOUS ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF FINDING BARGAINS NOT ONLY IN CATALOGUES BUT ALSO IN GALLERIES.
I HAVE ALREADY NARRATED IN ANOTHER ENTRY OF MINE HOW I STARTED MY OWN SMALL BUSINESS IN ART FROM SCRATCH AND WITHOUT KNOWING ANYTHING ABOUT ART. THE HONEST TRUTH IS THAT I KNEW A FEW THINGS ABOUT MAJOR ARTISTS USUALLY SEEN IN NATIONAL GALLERIES BUT NOTHING ABOUT ARTISTS WHO SELL AT AUCTION AND FOR HOW MUCH. I WAS INDEED IGNORANT BUT I WAS ALSO DETERMINED TO LEARN AND MORE DETERMINED TO MAKE A SUCCESS OF THE NEW VENTURE I GOT INTO IN 1983. IT WAS A MATTER OF SURVIVAL, IT WAS A MATTER OF A NEW WAY OF LIVING AND MAKING MONEY, EVEN IF IT WAS VERY LITTLE MONEY TO BEGIN WITH. I DID MAKE TWO POUNDS FROM MY FIRST INVESTMENT IN AN ANTIQUE. THRILLING!!!
THE SUCCESSES OF LATE 1985 ALLOWED ME TO INVEST IN SEVERAL PAINTINGS, WHICH EITHER WERE LONG TERM ONES, MONTEZIN TOOK TWO YEARS TO SHIFT (1985-1987) OR MORE IMMEDIATE ONES LIKE THE ONE I AM TO NARRATE TODAY. WHEN YOU ARE TRADING IN ANYTHING YOU BUY AND SELL NO MATTER HOW LONG THE INVESTMENT PLAN WAS. IN THE 1980S THE IDEA WAS TO SHIFT THE MONEY TWICE A YEAR AND HOPE THE RETURN WAS ABOUT 50% OVERALL. THE SMALL AUCTIONS HAD BARGAINS, THE MAJOR AUCTIONS HAD BARGAINS TOO AS I REFERRED TO THE LAURENCE WATERCOLOUR BOUGHT AT SOTHEBYS LONDON IN 1984.
MONEY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF INVESTING. NO MONEY, NO POSSIBILITY OF MAKING ANY MONEY LEGALLY. JUST WAGES. I WAS NOT AFTER WAGES, EVEN THOUGH I DID IT REGULARLY ALONGSIDE THE ART TRADING. ONCE THE MONEY OF THE SALE IN OCTOBER ARRIVED IN THE ACCOUNT IN LATE NOVEMBER I WAS ON THE SEARCH FOR RE-INVESTING AND BARGAINS IF ANY WERE IN ANY UP-COMING AUCTIONS. I BOUGHT SEVERAL SMALL PRICED ITEMS AMONG WHICH THE TOP ONE WAS BY THE GERMAN ARTIST WILHELM KUHNERT. I HAD TO SELL IN ORDER TO CONTINUE.
Ivan Choultse (Russian, [1874-1939] Painted snowy winter landscapes and forest views; a very collectable artist whose work has jumped in value due to Russian interest. Auction price range £5,000 – 80,000)
VERY SIMILAR TO THE PAINTING IN QUESTION IF NOT THE SAME ONE!!
March 1986, Sotheby’s London I entered the Kuhnert for sale in the Important 19th Century European Paintings Sale at Sotheby’s, London for March 1986, with a reserve of £3,000. I was confident it would sell and when the catalogue arrived I felt sure it would. I had no plans to attend the auction, but studying the catalogue, a painting by Ivan Choultse looked to be a bargain when compared with auction prices in New York. I researched the painting and I concluded that it was a great investment at the estimate. I phoned a friend who refused to listen to me. As a matter of fact I felt he was angry I had told him about the painting and its potential. I hung up and then scolded myself saying, “Perhaps I should go to the auction, and if luck is on my side I will buy the Choultse for myself. Keep your mouth shut and mind your business.”
I HAD TO SACRIFICE THE WAGES OF THE DAY ABOUT £50 POUNDS IN ORDER TO MAKE A LOT MORE OR LOSE. IT WAS A GAMBLE WORTH TAKING. I WAS WORKING AS A SUPPLY TEACHER EARNING ABOUT THAT MUCH DAILY AND WHENEVER I WORKED.
Mum is the word in this business and indeed in any other business! Auctions can be very entertaining but also extremely boring and frustrating. Costly when items remain unsold, but hugely profitable when events favour your corner in bad sales.
The 19th Century Paintings Sale of March 1986 at Sotheby’s was in two parts, morning and afternoon. Following whole auctions and registering the pulse and strength of the market was important to my investments. Seeing bidders and how many people were bidding on a particular painting and artist helped me to determine the strength of the artist’s worth and popularity.
Wednesday! The sale started at 10.30am. There were about ten people in the saleroom and by 12.30, the end of the morning session, there were six people left. The auction was an absolute disaster with nearly every other lot left unsold. Of the one hundred and thirty odd paintings in the morning more than 40% were unsold and whatever sold was close to the estimate. Constantine Parthenis, a Greek artist, was an exception selling at £12,000 with an estimate of £4,000-6,000. I registered that fact in bold letters. At the same time it became clear that the Kuhnert would struggle and perhaps the Choultse too. The afternoon sale continued in the same manner; deserted saleroom, depressing atmosphere and nothing but unsold and unsold art. It was disastrous, as lower value paintings, as a rule, struggle more than higher priced ones during bad sales and bad economic conditions.
The Choultse painting was to be auctioned before the Kuhnert, but by then I was pretty sure of its fate. It was a diabolically bad sale but I was there and more importantly also prepared to take advantage of that rare situation.
A downcast auctioneer called out, “ Choultse, a snowy hill.” The estimate of £800-1200 was rather conservative, in spite of the painting’s fine frame and solid provenance. That was a painting worth £2-3000 in New York. Eight hundred pounds was well within my compass of buying. That was a straightforward business trade. Buy and sell quickly and hopefully double the money. I was not anxious for once because the room was nearly empty bar half a dozen onlookers. Surely, the Choultse was destined to be mine. “Six hundred pounds,” the auctioneer called out looking everywhere in the room. The announcement fell on deaf ears and walls. Nobody moved a finger. “Six hundred and twenty pounds,” he continued, bidding against the wall frustrated and flushed. My hand went up and I added another thirty pounds to £650. “I have a bid of £650. I have six-fifty. I am selling at six hundred and fifty pounds,” and down came his gavel like manna from heaven.
The Choultse was mine at £720 inclusive of all commissions and taxes. It was an easy below estimate sale for Max the auctioneer and a good purchase for myself. I was the lucky buyer and I knew I had made a good month’s salary from it or perhaps more. How did I know? My significant investment in catalogues of 19th century paintings in New York pointed clearly to double or treble my investment. No doubt. Having every result of those sales written down was work that paid me back. Investing in the first Art Sales Index that year was money well invested too. Was I right in my assessments? More importantly, what happened to the Kuhnert in that same sale? As I predicted, it remained unsold at £2000 with an estimate of £3000-4000. Not a single bid was offered. That was perhaps one of the worst auctions I had ever attended at Sotheby’s. I walked out of the auction with three lessons taken on board:
• Attend auctions and you never know what bargains there might be!
• Watch the Greek market because the Parthenis sale was exceptionally strong in such a subdued sale.
• If you do not sell because a sale is bad, then buy!
Choultse is one of the most sought after Russian artists today and that picture I bought at Sotheby’s in 1986 is worth about £50,000 today. I sold the painting in New York six months later for $4500 dollars, (£3,000) or 400% more, thus making that sale one of the best ones at the time. Could I complain with a 300% net profit achieved within eight months? Most importantly, I had proved that I could trade between the major auctions and across the Atlantic rather successfully and in this case from Sotheby’s London to Sotheby’s New York.
IT WAS A TRADE I REMEMBER ALONG SO MANY OTHERS. REALLY GOOD TRADES STICK TO MIND, WHEREAS THE BAD ONES FADE AWAY. THE LESSON WAS OBVIOUS AND I STILL FOLLOW IT WHENEVER I CAN. THERE IS ALWAYS THE CASE OF MONEY AND FINANCE BUT NOW, I CAN SPOT THE BARGAINS AND ALERT YOU ALL TO THEM. OF COURSE THERE ARE SO MANY, ONLY THE STUDIOUS, THE REALLY DETERMINED INVESTORS CAN SPOT THEM ALL BY SITTING IN FRONT OF THE COMPUTER AND SCANNING THE WORLD.
INDEED THERE ARE BARGAINS ALL THE TIME!! IT IS UP TO YOU WHICH ONES TO FOCUS ON, RESEARCH AND PRAY YOU ARE LUCKY ON THE DAY OF THE SALE!!
PETER CONSTANT
