Caridad

I have been at the art and antiques game for a very long time. In all humility I would like to say that I have a pretty good batting average when it comes to sizing up inventory. I would have to to stay in business for all this time.

But do I make mistakes? You bet I do. All the time. No one bats a thousand. Unfortunately the strikeouts hurt a lot worse than the doubles or triples feel good. You are supposed to win.

However, if you don't have an occasional failure you are probably playing the thing a little too tight. You just move on to the next thing or hope that you will live long enough for another poor soul to eventually relieve you of the item and take it off your hands. You keep swinging the bat.

The reason I mention this is that I got called to an old San Diego estate yesterday to look at some inventory that will be coming up for sale. I don't get a lot of calls like this from other dealers and I went partly out of appreciation.

It was not my finest hour. I bought eight or nine things and now in retrospect, the great majority look very foolish to have purchased. I got caught up and overpaid a little but did not do significant damage to my bankroll.

A couple things might prove okay when they are restored so the jury is still out on the whole affair. Hopefully can get my money back or maybe even make a little.

I bought a lovely English drawing by James Seymour (1702-1752) that should be magnificent if I can manage to clean it properly. 

I sold one of the pieces this morning, a historical photograph and made a small profit out of a client's generosity so I am 1/8th there.

One of the other things I bought was this print by Francisco de Goya (1746-1828), Caridad.  

This translates to charity in English.

This is part of Goya's Disasters of War series and was originally pulled in 1810. 

It is the 27th plate in the series. It was made by etching, wash, drypoint, burin and burnishing. 

From the Goya en Aragon Foundation:

In the state tests, a gradual softening of the musculature of the corpses being thrown into the mass grave can be observed.

The title of the print was handwritten by Goya on the first and only known series at the time of its creation, which the painter gave to his friend Agustín Ceán Bermúdez. The title was subsequently engraved on the plate without any modification, based on Ceán Bermúdez's copy, for the first edition of The Disasters of War, printed by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid in 1863.

A preparatory drawing is preserved in the Prado National Museum.

I love Goya and have sold one or two for significant money in the past at auction. I thought that this print might save me from my ineptitude. 

But when I brought it out of the car I flipped it over and saw this sticker. 

Holy Hannah, my print is from Sears and Roebuck?

Robert, you idiot, you've done it again. Just what you need, more junk.

No snatching victory from the jaws of defeat this time.

But wait, not so fast. I started doing a little research.

Perhaps this is not so bad.

This comes from the Vincent Price collection, a true renaissance man and like Edward G. Robinson and Andy Williams, a true lover of art and antiquities.

It turns out that Vincent Price was buying real art and real prints for this venture with Sears, Roebuck & Co.

Sears’ plan was ambitious. By all accounts, Price was handed a blank check for The Vincent Price Collection of Fine Art, which was intended to attract both millionaires and factory workers. An accomplished connoisseur and collector, Price already had contacts in the art world and was given carte blanche to choose the works for the initial collection.

The Vincent Price Collection opened in Denver on October 6th, 1962 to great success. The collection included paintings, prints and other works by the likes of Rembrandt, Chagall, Whistler and many contemporary artists of the day. There was a watercolor by Andrew Wyeth, a drawing by Picasso and a painting by Salvador Dali commissioned by Price specifically for the opening.

Vincent Price - 1955 (check out the Mesa Verde mugs)

There are various stories about Price's involvement with Sears. I am not sure what to believe about the value of this print. It sold originally I believe for $35.00.

I talked to a fellow art dealer, he said that I might be okay with this particular print. He has seen the Price prints before. I know that there were five printings. I will take it out of frame and look for a palmetto watermark, if it has it it will help the cause greatly.

If not I will move on to the next thing. I am looking at another collection tomorrow.

I will let you know how this one turns out.

*

I had some bad UTI symptoms the other night and took an anti-biotic. I talked to my doctor and she said that I couldn't do chemo tomorrow, that I had screwed up the test metrics. Consensually we have now decided to stop further treatment until September. I will have three more infusions at that time.

I didn't want to go into Santa Barbara and New Mexico feeling like I was going to die, remember I checked myself into the hospital last year without chemo.

I look forward to feeling normal again soon, in fact I feel better already. Free from the poison.