New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS) The art and accessories auction market is humming with activity in India and abroad, putting memories of the economic meltdown behind. The goods on display in showrooms and cyber galleries include souvenirs, antiques, jewellery, vintage books and even wine.
Saffronart, the Mumbai-based online auction house, will close its sale of rare solitaire and unset diamonds Aug 18. The sale opened online Aug 16. The lots feature a range of cuts in varying carats, including round brilliant diamonds, heart and pear-shaped stones.
Saffronart CEO Dinesh Vazirani said his ‘auction house was buoyed by the positive response it has received for its first limited period online sale of diamond solitaires’.
‘Buyers particularly appreciated our transparent buying process, online certificates and expert comments on each diamond or well-matched pair of diamonds. These features helped build confidence in our platform, which we hope to keep using to connect buyers and sellers online,’ he said.
On Aug 17, Bangalore-based auctioneer Bid & Hammer opened its luxury collection of antiquarian maps, books, British company art, vintage photographs and antiquities at Windsor Palace. The lots had been thrown open to online viewing Aug 13.
Bid & Hammer Managing Director M. Maher Dadha said: ‘In the revised scenario of economic prosperity, we are seeking to preserve our own heritage, when sadly the majority of our collections are now in the hands private or corporate collectors of Western nations.’
Director of the India Art Summit Neha Kirpal said ‘the sentiments in the market in the last 18 months have been more confident’.
‘Buyers and collectors are coming back carefully. The key thing is to ensure that the market moves forward with a degree of caution and invest collectively in the bedrock of the market eco-system to make it more sustainable. The auction prices should not be bubble – but have some degree of longevity. The rule applies to markets the world over,’ Kirpal told IANS.
Kirpal’s optimism is shared by Hugo Weihe of Christie’s who said ‘the buyers were more careful now’.
‘Quality is the driver in the auction market,’ said Weihe, the international head of South Asian and Indian contemporary and modern art at Christie’s.
Christie’s unveiled seven Indian modern and contemporary masterpieces for a preview in the capital to generate buyers’ interest in its Sep 26 New York sale of Indian art featuring 104 art works. The seven works were estimated at $27 million.
On Tuesday, Christie’s unveiled a list of art and memorabilia to be auctioned Sep 29 in a widely publicised sale, ‘Lehman Brothers: Art and Ephemera’. The lots on sale once adorned the walls and offices of the Lehman Brothers.
The art works include old paintings of frigates by old masters, a 1962 composition by Gary Hume and an array of souvenirs of heritage value.
The Christie’s auction calendar is full till December. ‘Our auction business has been steadily growing,’ Weihe said.
Figures cite that the auction house traded art worth 410,575 pounds and 529,500 pounds respectively in two auctions Aug 10 and Aug 17. The auction house’s current turnover in contemporary and modern Indian art is roughly $45 million.
The rejuvenated auction market, a couple of months ago, sold 12 paintings by Rabindranath Tagore for 1.6 million pounds. The Sotheby’s sale of the Tagore works also set a new individual price record of 313,250 pounds for an untitled figure drawing.
In July, Sotheby’s sold fine watches worth 981,700 pounds, cookbooks worth 396,826 pounds, fine wines to the tune of 1,193,228 pounds, jewels worth 2,136,100 pounds and old masters worth 53,484,350 pounds.
