He managed to pull out another two dust-laden paintings that the seller had inherited from his father. Dadha realised that they were no ordinary paintings. They belonged to a modern artist and could fetch Rs 30-35 lakh.
Ever since, the Bid & Hammer MD has been on a mission. He is determined to hold workshops and seminars in parts of the country where there is wealth, but no understanding of art.
"We will go into geographies with high disposal incomes but where people may not look at art as an investment," says Dadha. His team will fan out into regions like Bellary, which boasts of the noveau riche who found wealth in iron ore mining, and conduct seminars to entice them into participating in art auctions.
And the latest art auction that Bid & Hammer, a relatively new player in the business, is holding will be in Bangalore on June 15. Here, it expects to see Rs 7.5 crore of art works being auctioned. Bid & Hammer's first auction in January fetched it Rs 2.5 crore with the margin money being 15 per cent of the total.
Dadha claims that Bid & Hammer intends to eventually have an international and national presence across metros and smaller cities to be able to service all types of collectors.
Though Delhi and Mumbai have been the focal points of auction for the Indian art market since Independence, several other cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata have joined the fray. "We are keen to develop the southern Indian art market, even as we service our clients globally," Dadha says.
Back home, the auction house hopes to widen the appeal of the arts among young and emerging collectors. They should see the auction as an opportunity to bid for art works that start at prices from as low as Rs 24,000 going up to Rs 50 lakh, he feels.
The auction house also offers information on the historical and social context of the art works that it deals in and offers advice regarding research, conservation and finance of the works.
