MANILA, Philippines - Five years ago, Richie and Karen Lerma attended an auction in Sydney and bid on a pair of vintage Bulgari earrings: 18k gold chevrons with pavé diamonds that make today’s rocks run home to their mamas in shame. The auction estimate was of shock-worthy value, almost unbelievable for a piece so exquisite. When no one else challenged the couple’s bid of A$1,000, the hammer went down and the earrings were theirs. Thus began a love affair with the auction process, and a return to a country whose art scene was on the verge of taking off.
Salcedo Auctions was established in 2010 with the intention of giving collectors a chance to buy valuable art at a plausible price, not in the way estate pieces were being sold before: yanked off walls, and hauled from car trunks into Forbes Park salas by fly-by-night types quoting ridiculous amounts, without so much as a peep about the photocopied “authenticity certificate†signed by the artist’s son, daughter, nephew or yaya.
With the rest of Southeast Asia dancing to the tune of Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Bonhams, Manila itself did have its initial stirrings of getting into the auction scene with the eponymously named The Auction House in the early 1980s and Kim Camacho’s Sotheby’s satellite office at The Enterprise Center in Makati in the early 2000s. Call it chance or circumstance, but the short lifespan of these entities did nothing to discourage the Lermas — it only made their commitment stronger. Others may have come and gone, but Salcedo Auctions was here to stay.
A ground floor space at quaint Salcedo Village became the site of the Lerma’s foray into the auction business. With Richie’s background in art history as the director and chief curator of the esteemed Ateneo Art Gallery and as a two-time recipient of the National Book Award for Art as editor and co-publisher, and Karen’s expertise as a certified diamond grader from the Gemological Association of Australia, there was no turning back. The two already had enough expertise between them to pick apart the real from the fake, distinguishing quality from the chaff.
Their first auction in July 2010 surprised the scene as it hewed to international standards. They had perfected a system that provided transparency, offering pieces backed by their trustworthiness and reputation — their good housekeeping seal of quality — to be passed on from one serious collector to the next. One man’s trash could be another’s pièce de résistance. They were clearly on to something: “This isn’t Bangkal, dahlings — it’s Salcedo Auctions.â€
Their initial success spurred future auctions to include fine jewelry, international and local art, along with antiques and contemporary furniture by the likes of Gehry (yes, the cardboard chair!) and Eames. While simultaneously creating a deeper stake in the art market, each new achievement of Salcedo bred another type of development: the copycats.
It was only a matter of time for success to breed imitators, even though it was the supreme compliment. Art galleries around Manila began to follow suit, even auctioning off inventory pieces from their back rooms. It could have been a bad dream about getting lost in a perya, but when one gallery started calling their auction “Spectacular†and their next one “Magnificent,†I could have sworn someone out there was channeling Disney: shining, shimmering, splendid!
There are galleries, and there is Salcedo Auctions — each institution serves its own function. The ever-changing locales in any art scene constantly welcome the need for a new environment to sell, promote, and recognize art and artists. But, when society is unable to distinguish the important roles played by each, then we can all sigh and bow our heads in embarrassment.
The humdrum of imitation has truly taken dazzling turns over the past few months. Whether it’s some forgotten nobody suddenly having a career renaissance and zooming up in price, or the Salcedo Auctions catalogue, schedule and British auctioneer being copied — well, not really, if you can distinguish between Salcedo’s stiff upper lip and a gallery’s pitch-perfect rendition of the Storage Wars — it’s all in a day’s work.
Interestingly enough, in a spectacular feat of magical transformation, a Chabet work on paper with a personal dedication to a certain Maritess scribbled by the artist in pencil on the lower left corner which appeared at Salcedo several years ago turned up at another venue just last month and — voila! dedication removed like an unsightly mole — if only to improve its chances of selling to some unsuspecting chump.
With fair warning, the “buyers beware†adage is always a useful tidbit to keep prospective bidders out there levelheaded. Walk into any gallery and the manager with his Italian shoes and bespoke suits might just talk you into dropping another six-figure check on the counter for a piece that could have been made under the Marikina bridge. Salcedo Auctions aims to change the jaded mindset of many-a-duped, because they can say without batting an eyelash that a piece is, in their opinion, authentic — they have the expertise and a reputation to protect. And the possibility of scooping up that BenCab at their published auction estimate is very, very real.
Here are some terms to remember — and things to watch out for — the next time you decide to attend an auction:
Lot: An item or group of items being offered at auction.
Auction estimate: The price range published in the auction catalogue for a particular lot. There is a “low†and a “high†estimate.
Reserve: The confidential price agreed upon by the consignor and the auction house for a lot, which may either be below or at the published low estimate. It is should never be higher than this. Planting bids or calling fake bids to push the price higher than the reserve is illegal in places like the US, UK and Australia. Another term for this fraudulent act is “shill bidding.â€
Baiting: When the organizers of an auction publish an auction price at an amount that in reality cannot be bought as the organizers have no plans of selling it at that price in case the bid ends at that amount. This is when they resort to shill bidding.
Buyer’s Premium: The commission earned by the house in conducting a sale plus the 12-percent VAT to ensure that Kim Henares doesn’t hound your latest art acquisition.
Specialists: Experts looking after the various sale categories — fine and decorative arts, jewelry, watches, and other collectibles. They must be on staff. It is the specialist that recommends the auction estimate.
Absentee bid: The maximum offer price submitted in writing by a bidder who is unable to physically attend the auction. It is left with the auctioneer or a member of the auction house staff.
Provenance: Traces back the lot’s origins up until the artist that created the piece. There must always be a direct line established with its present owner. A clear title means the work is not a stolen good. Watch out for invented provenance. If you see cops lurking about at your next auction, be afraid.