Fast forward:
The Juan Luna Y Novicio 1885 oil on canvass titled A Do… Va la Nave?
was the most awaited lot at the recently concluded Salcedo Auctions. It was sold for 40 million pesos plus buyers premium of 16.8% or a total of P46,720,000 to a telephone bidder. The gallery gets the P6,720,000 from the winning bidder plus P5,120,000 from the consigner (owner) or total income of P11,840,000 more or less from that one single painting alone.
Rewind:
The auction started at about 4:10 pm. I was there by 3:30 pm, sobrang eager beaver. I thought I was early but when I entered the Rockwell Tent it was 80% full.
Unlike at the Leon Gallery Auction where there was no fee to join or watch, Here at Salcedo Auctions, one has to register and pay 10,000 refundable fee. This is meant to weed out the uzis (usyosero). After payment, I was given my paddle that I would raise in case I wanted to bid on a particular painting. This number would be my identification. I would be responsible in case someone used it to bid.
The auction house was expecting to sell this at over two million but the highest bid was only 1.2M, the British auctioneer said “Sorry I can’t sell at 1.2 million”. Ganun pala yun, they reserve the right to reject bids.
This one too. Cockfighters by Zalameda. There was only one and only bidder at 450,000, no one raised their paddle after that. The auctioneer said “I can’t sell at 450”. Ay daya.
Other works of Zalameda are superior than this. Siguro that’s the reason why no one was interested to buy this except for that one female bidder.
The minimum bid indicated was one million pesos. Why did he open the bid at 450k tapos they wanted much more than that. Eh di ba that’s wasting our time? He started the bid at a price way below what the auction house wanted, what was that for? Waste of our valuable time and effort. Why don’t they just cut the crap and start the bid at the minimum amount they are willing to sell? 450 daw tapos merong nag bid tapos ayaw nyo naman.
A much bigger Bencab’s Sabel was sold at the Leon Gallery for forty million pesos plus buyer’s premium.
Sold for 13M plus buyer’s premium
The Clown by Ang Kiukok was sold for 3.3 million +.
A small painting by Araceli Dans fetched 400,000.
The Portrait of Rose Nalda Gil, 31 1/2″ x 23 1/2″ oil on canvass painted in 1890 by Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo was sold for thirteen million pesos. The auctioneer looked a little disappointed. They were probably expecting the bids to sour beyond the twenty million mark.
Ronald Ventura, Oil on canvass, 24 3/4 x 21 3/4) sold for 1.9M
Rodel Tapaya, Acrylic on Canvas, 76″ x 60″ sold for 1.6M
Fernando Amorsolo, Nude, 1959 Oil on Canvass, 15 3/4″ x 11 3/4″
Sold for 1.5M
The auctioneer took his time waiting for more bids to come in. Kala ko there’s a time limit. Dito he waited and meron pang konting sales talk so that bidders would increase their bids more.
I wonder where the winner bidder would hang Juan Luna’s A Do Vala Nave?
HR Ocampo’s Cantata
I was shocked at how much the bidder was willing to pay for this. Before going to the auction, do research so you know the comparable prices. It’s not a good feeling to have buyer’s remorse for years and years to come. Tsk Tsk. Sayang ang pera.
I left right after the Juan Luna bidding. I didn’t win anything because I just raised my paddle less than 5 times only on the paintings that were cute. Translation (small and cheap).
That was a two day auction but I only went to the art auction. They also auctioned expensive watches like old Patek Philippe, Rolex, AP, etc. Also, fine jewelries and collectible cars like Mustang.
I surrendered the paddle and got a credit card reversal for the P10,000 refundable deposit.
