Tuesday, May 13, 2008

New Art

I went to an art auction the other night where some of the proceeds were for charity. It was being hosted by a local organization but the art was all being provided by the same gallery that I bought my Norikane etching from a while ago. They were donating 10% of the profits to the organization along with all the proceeds from a few pieces that were labeled "special donation".

I had gone through all the items up for bid and circled on the ones I might want to bid on. I also went through the pre-sale items just to get an idea of what things were worth so I wouldn't go too crazy during the bidding process. Some friends and I went there together so we got some food and then settled in for the auction.

One of the pieces (I don't have a photo of quite yet) that I had my eye on came up right away in the bidding. I held off until the bidding slowed down but was still under what I thought it was worth. Then I made my move and I ended up getting it for about 60 dollars less than I thought it was worth originally.

Now it turns out that because it is an artist's proof, it is possibly one of a kind and worth quite a bit more than I first thought....this of course works for me. It is a Norikane print like the one I purchased from Kanda's before but this one is called Spring. It has a thatch roofed house in it and it has some of the artist proof items still in the printing, like the title and artist's name in writing in the corner but in reverse. I'll have to take a picture of it soon since I couldn't find an image of it anywhere on the internet. I don't think it is quite as well known as some of his other prints.

The second print that I bid on was much later in the evening. It was a special donation which meant that all the proceeds went to charity. I had thought someone had told me it was worth about 200 dollars so when the bidding got near there, I slowed down but then I was then told it was much higher than so I started to bid quite a bit and managed to get that one for about 185 dollars less than what it is sold for at the same gallery. I was very excited. This too, was a Norikane print and it is called Engawa-6. It has the shoji screens on it and I just love it.

Overall, I feel like I made two great deals. Now I have the Engawa-6 hanging in the living room, the Miyajima-2 in my office near my computer, and the Spring in my bedroom so I can see one of my prints no matter where I am in the house...haha.

_________________________

One Year Ago on In My Words...Freedom Writers

3 comments:

Haha said...

Wow, great finds Mishka. Enjoy!

Girl said...

Very cool print.

Chicken said...

Very cool sis. It sounds like the auction was fun too.