Two art auctions next week could heat up the market

In the time the exhibition-cum-sale moved from Mumbai to Delhi, the prices of the smaller of the serigraph prints (16'x24.4') had escalated from Rs 45,000 to Rs 90,000 each, and the larger prints (24.4'x33.6') had jumped from Rs 75,000 to Rs 1,50,000 each. If you bought the entire set, you might therefore have paid Rs 8 lakh in Mumbai, and a little later, Rs 13.5 lakh in Delhi.

This year, one such set was auctioned by Bonham's for Rs 26 lakh. And now, another set is on offer at the June 15 auction of Bid & Hammer in Bangalore, where the estimate value of Rs 22-24 lakh might well be comfortably breached. It is this careful sourcing of art works that marks the auction company's bid for respectability.

Badly scorched at its debut auction a few months back, Bid & Hammer this time has paid considerably more attention to its lots, choosing between well-established artists as well as quality works by those less well known. More importantly, it has based estimates on a realistic, perhaps even the low-end of the scale.

A Thota Vaikuntam oil on canvas, arguably only 8'x7', is estimated at a laughable Rs 35,000 to Rs 50,000.

The coming week has another auction on the anvil