What a bloody waste - give it to me; I'll look after it properly. Why buy any art if you're going to use if for a coffee table

sure but is to be expected no?

Had been looking forward to this one but all the estimates seem a little on the high side especially when you consider many of the prices on the secondary market recently. Will definitely check out the traveling road show that's accompanying this though

Dunno about this one.

The Bonhams urban art auction was marketeted very well before hand, got good coverage etc.

Will be interesting to see what publicity this sale gets.

I hadnt heard of this auction house before this.

having said the above, I do hope it goes stonkingly well for all concerned

Agreed, a real shame

it's certainly not one of the big three - but it's the biggest regional auctioneers in the country - it's very well run and they have superb knowledge

I had a couple of pieces entered in this but missed the deadline after allowing myself to be messed around by a forum window-shopper! I'll be very interested to see how this sale goes on the night.

They seemed a great bunch to deal with and the commissions are considerably lower than at the larger houses. I just have a feeling this will be a very interesting sale, as there are some great pieces and it should attract plenty of enthusiasts. Results will no doubt be a very mixed bag with some of these estimates though.

Those Mudwigs are nice along with the Neates and of course the Dennings. The prices are all over the place but thats auctions. I'm sure there will be surprises on the night but all in all I'm a little underwhelmed. Cracking document though!

I honestly believe that the sellers will seriously regret these sales a few years down the line. After seeing the A & R show, I honestly believe that Neate is one of the very few artists around who is producing museum quality work. I also believe his work will survive the eventual demise of the current street art movement. If I was lucky enough to own a Neate original I would be looking to hold onto it for a least a decade if not longer. Who knows for sure but I wouldn't be surprised if some of his works go for millions one day.

What do you think Elms will make of this many early sales? - being originals they will obviously know who the sellers are.

I completely agree with you. Some of these owners are hedge-funders that look at these works as nothing more than stocks/diversification. They're happy making a 25-40% profit in a year. Once Adam's exposure increases to a worldwide audience I think prices are going MAD. I mean he only creates what, like 50 pieces a year? And he's only been showing in galleries 2 years and is creating works of this caliber - unbelievable!

To answer your other question - I think Elms probably isn't the happiest. Recently (privately and publically through auction houses) too many of his works are being offered for sale. I think people are just freaking out - but in years time when they're going for hundreds of thousands, they're definitely going to regret it.

Think it's partly bc the mentality of the urban/street art collectors isn't that slow and steady wins the race. Thank God Adam is represented by such a good gallery that understands the importance of this - and whose main goal isn't making as much money as possible, as quickly as possible (one of the reasons no more Neate prints).

That's all very well but what can they do about it, besides stopping the original buyers from buying again?

Never heard of it! It's only the biggest regional auction house in the country!

For the record I think the NW estimates are generally OK (except for the 8000-12000 nickers f**k up). 5000-7000 for the Vandalism canvas seems sweet, especially on the back of Bonhams New York.

The Eelus and SPQR estimates are also low, as are the Kev Munday canvases at 300-500(they'll do a grand easy).

Could galleries get a customer to sign something all legal like, that if the new owner decides to sell at auction in say the first 2 years of ownership, they have to give the gallery that sold it first refusal on buying it back ?

Maybe needs a bit of tweaking ? :-)

There are such things in place already, but 9 times out of 10, they aren't worth the paper they're written on...litterally.