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Further to my last blog, I thought I'd take the opportunity to update you on the results of the Psaier auction.

I went along to the auction with a friend, who is predominantly a garden designer, (of some note) but is also a writer, artist, allotmenteer and to some extent, a developing eccentric (a work in progress). His intentions were mainly to view the auction, see how it works but maybe to buy "a little something" if the right piece came along.

My intentions were originally quite simple, go along, see if anything grabbed me and make a bid. Having previously purchased six other pieces, I had assured my wife that I wouldn't go overboard..... However, between my last post and the auction I had visited a client on business and got talking about art. It turned out that her husband has a Warhol print and she has collected a great deal of art (including a number of original David Hockney pieces). Her problem though, was that she was about go on holiday and couldn't attend the auction. As I was going to attend, I offered to bid on her behalf and suggested she look at the catalogue online, tell me what she liked and what she would like to pay. She emailed me a list of 8 pieces that she was keen to buy.

On the day of the auction, I got stuck into the bidding on behalf of my client, racking up the works that she had asked for. My friend Cleve, now also became infected with auction fever and bid on a very unusual commercial piece that Psaier had done of a pair of used shoes, much to the amusement of the auctioneer and the other participants. Later, another, bigger lot came up which was of a number of pairs of shoes with gold and pink glitter dust adorning them. Cleve had not viewed this piece but the auctioneers good natured prompting about Cleve presumably owning a shoe shop and my gentle dig about his new found foot fetish, got him going and Cleve, being on his toes, got the upper hand, put the boot in and socked it to the auctioneer. It was soled in no time. Sorry about the puns. It turned out to be a really good piece and possibly the bargain of the day.

For my part, I managed not to get too giddy until it came to a huge, quite unusual piece (approx 1.8m diameter) that Psaier had done in respect of Ossie Clarke the 1960s & 70s fashion designer. The lot had a guide price of £1500 - £2000 (way beyond my budget) but there was no interest and with a reserve of £1000 there were still no takers. At this point I achieved on of life's minor achievements, I haggled with the auctioneer, in the middle of a live auction.

I called out an offer of £500
The auctioneer exclaimed "I'm not here to give it away"
I repeated my offer of £500
The auctioneer countered with £800 as his best position before moaning "this [auction] is going the wrong way"
I upped my offer to £600
The auctioneer refused
I repeated my offer of £600 as my last offer
The auctioneer, finally beaten, wearily said "you've beaten me, it's yours for £600"

At that point, Cleve nudged me and quietly said "I have seen it all now". Mastery of the understatement or what?

So, other than the practical difficulty of getting my lot home (crudely tied onto the roof of my car) and then having to explain to my rather shocked but patient and broadminded wife why I had bought it and why I liked it, a good day was had by all.

You never know, the art might even appreciate as well, time will tell....

Waterwell - for Garden Lighting or Irrigation