An hour ago I won an online art auction for original artwork that was used on the back cover of Isaac Asimov’s Lucky Starr series from the paperback editions published in 1978. I was 12.
While reading all of the pulp sci-fi for the past couple of years and researching the authors and cover artists and publications history, I’d found several auction sites where these things turn up. Generally, the paintings at the auction sites are from auctions years ago. They’re probably left up as advertisements for what the auction house has sold in order to lure sellers and buyers with and of similar objects, but they unintentionally become valuable as art museums. Although my bidding started only on the 1st of this month–a little over three weeks ago–I wasn’t looking for this painting so I’m not sure how I found it. Spelunking and I lost track of how I got there.
Valued at $300-500. The first few days it was started at just a few bucks (score!). Even though I had no illusion that I’d get it for such a small amount I offered the first bid and became the winner of the auction! It was, of course, not to last. After a couple of weeks it ended up… higher than that (no, I won’t give numbers). Not crazy and well within my max and so I felt comfortable as I kept outbidding the competition which steadily rose until it got to 9 bidders and almost 70 “watchers” at the end. A few days before the auction proper, the bids bumped up quickly, but I still held my ground.
Now here’s the thing about online auctions: there are many inscrutable options (at least when you’re starting) and you can kinda not know exactly what you’re doing. I mean, there’s no risk of accidentally paying $50k when your budget is $100, but there’s a jungle of terms that don’t-quite-make-sense.
So we get to the day (today) of the auction and I know that they’ve posted a time when the auction starts. But it’s not the start. It’s near the start and the terms are vague. I logged in the night before and sat in on a live auction of wine. It was fascinating! An obviously sampled voice stated the bids with a vocal-algorithm of excitement and would count down as the time expired. $80… $90… $100… last chance!, 4, 3, 2, $110!… $120… last chance, 4, 3, 2, 1… sold! And on to the next lot.
There were around 450 items in the lot that had The Only Painting That Mattered In The World and it was split up into two session. First started at 4 PM. Mine was in the second session and so there was a wait and so, figuring that it takes a while I have one task: make sure I’m on the right part of the web site because I assume anything can go wrong. My session finally starts at something like lot 100 and mine is lot 197. Wait… Nerve. Fucking. Wracking. There’s a horizontal scroll of images of the artwork so you can see what’s now and what’s to come and when yours is about to appear. Even with that preview available, I keep a few windows open (multiple monitors if you have ’em) so i can track the auction live and also scroll through large-scale images of the art.
There were some really nice Vargases, good but hilariously trashy paintings for 40s detective novel covers (some framed with a copy of the paperback), and some complete trash Nagels (one going for $52k!). And wow was there also some genuinely bad art that was going for a lot, so I was scared.
Lisa’s in the other room zooming with her girly friends and drinking and oddly I have to close the door when my item comes up. The stress? I don’t know. Basically I did what I mock her for for her obsession of college football: get absorbed, get com-PLETELY stressed out, hyperventilate. And then, bonus, pay a stupid amount of money for my obsession. welpthereyouhaveit
I’m still riding a high and I will be for as long as I own that piece and there’s no explaining it. Two weeks.
Updated 16 May 2020
Got it yesterday. Taking it to be framed today.
