We went to an art auction to see the sale of a famous Banksy painting.
Because it was originally painted on the side of a truck, they had to show it in the street.
The auction centre is called Drouot, similar to Christie's or Sotherby's. It has been located at 9 rue Drouot, in the 9th Arr just off Boulevard Haussmann, since 1795.
Drouot describes itself as "one of the oldest public auction institutions in the world bringing together 74 auction houses with 2,000 professionals dedicated to auction sales. Open to all tastes and preferences, we auction 500,000 objects each year and host 5,000 daily visitors, from grand collectors to amateurs and novices. Drouot is a place of constant exchange with an ever-flowing stream of objects, thanks to the passion and dedication of our auctioneers".
We turned up on Monday 1 June to an auction of Contemporary Urban Art conducted by Digard Auctions of Paris in auction room 14 at Drouot.
Waiting here for the doors of room 14 to open for the auction at 3.00pm. Prior inspections were held from 11.00am until 1.00pm, so we missed that part.
While we waited, we nipped in room 15 for a look. Some very underwhelming paintings were being offered and many were selling.
On the wall outside each auction room is a live broadcast of the auction underway inside. The screen shows the item being auctioned together with its catalogue details, on the left. While on the right it shows the live auction happening together with the amounts being bid, in €euros, $US and other currencies. Fascinating!
Our auction was packed - standing room only. Here is a link to the catalogue of the 106 items auctioned. It doesn't have any detail unfortunately, just photos.
We all settled in as Ms Marielle Digard began the auction. I was really impressed with her very respectful and inclusive attitude to the bidders, one of whom was very arrogant and one who was a novice who was spending big. Paul thinks he bought about 10 paintings and spent about €300,000 in the time we watched.
There are six dealers on the telephones at the far side of the room, against the wall and one on the far right side who is managing the internet bidding.
This was the work I liked best. 'Untitled' by Irish artist Conor Harrington sold for €40,000, plus commissions.
There were also many pieces by the American, Shepard Fairey and at least one by Keith Hairing but as photos were not encouraged, I didn't want to outwear my welcome.
Banksy's "Flying Copper" sold for €180,000, plus commissions.
And then we got to the painting on the truck, Banksy's "Silent Majority" the sale everyone had come to see.
It was all such an anti-climax. There were no bidders in the room. There was one on the phone and one on the internet. Bidding started at €150,000 and was all over in a minute or so. The work sold to a private collector for a bid of €500,000 .
The final price, published by the auction house, was €625,399. That makes the commission €125,399 or 20% plus 1% tax.
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