At a Multimillion Dollar Art Auction, does the 2nd Place Bidder breathe a sigh of relief or regret?

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Nov. 14, 2014 - PRLog -- Imagine if you were one of the bidders in some of those art auctions and you were bidding ninety million dollars for a piece of art and someone else bid a hundred million dollars for that piece...would you breathe a sigh of relief or a sigh of regret about not having to write out a check for that piece?

And what will you do with the ninety million dollars that you didn’t spend on that objet d’art?

Will you settle for a lesser piece of art by a somewhat lesser known artist?

Will you go out and relieve some of your anxiety by buying a Rolex watch or a Rolls Royce?

Will you start taking painting lessons?

And...will you keep going to art auctions only to be outbid by millionaires much richer than you? (Ahhh, to have such a dilemma?)

Along these lines, an artist named Robert Barrows from San Mateo, California, offers some consolations for second place bidders at art auctions...

He says...“For all those bidders who came in second (or just above the starting bid) at all these multi-million dollar art auctions...

1) Think of all the money they saved.

2) Please let them know that they can still get a great deal on some of my art.

Here is a link where you can see some of his sculpture.

www.barrows.com/gallery.html

3) If they still have all that money they saved by not winning the bid on the multi-million dollar piece of art, they are invited to practice their bidding techniques on several pieces of art by Robert Barrows. (Those pieces of art and links to them will be described shortly.)

BUT FIRST... HOW DID THE ART MARKET BECOME SO HOT? AND HOW DO YOU MAKE YOUR ART WORTH MILLIONS IN YOUR OWN LIFETIME... without having to cut off your ear (or something else)?

LET’S FACE IT...SOME ART GOES FOR MILLIONS OF DOLLARS...AND SOME ART WON’T EVEN SELL  AT A GARAGE SALE.

When art writers write about art, they usually write about the nature of art and the work of that particular artist.

Recently, most of the news we hear about art is about the millions of dollars that are often being paid at auctions for famous paintings and sculptures.

Are art collectors buying these pieces because they are great conversation pieces, or are they buying the art just as an investment?

With these thoughts in mind, here are some interesting aspects of art and the prices for art, according to Robert Barrows, a sculptor in San Mateo, California.

1) "If you price your art very high, it may not sell at all. Then again, you never know." he says.

2) "If you do price your art very high, be careful, someone might break into your home and steal it."

3) "Also, if you price your art very high, and you carry it on your books at those very high prices, you may wind up paying some very high taxes on it in some places,  and if it becomes part of your estate, your survivors may pay some very high inheritance taxes on it."

("As always, consult a tax advisor on these kinds of things," says Barrows.)

4) "In the event that you price your art very high, and you try to get insurance on it, good luck. Your insurance premiums could become very expensive" he adds.

So, how should you price your art?

How would an art gallery price it?

How much is your art worth now? How much will your art be worth later? And if you were a wealthy art collector, how much would you be willing to bid for certain pieces of art by famous artists or not-so-famous artists?

"A lot of that depends on your pocketbook, but if you were already one of those people who paid fifty to one hundred million dollars for a piece of art, and you had millions more to pay for future pieces,

how much do you think you might be willing to pay for some of the pieces you will see in the rest of this article?" asks Barrows…

AND, JUST TO MAKE THINGS INTERESTING, HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK THESE PIECES OF SCULPTURE MIGHT FETCH AT AN AUCTION?

"Before you send in your estimate, says Barrows, I will also give you a little pitch about each of these pieces to make them as valuable as possible."

First, a little background about the artist:

Robert Barrows is the President of R.M. Barrows, Inc. Advertising & Public Relations in San Mateo, California.

He is also the inventor of a video tombstone called the "Video Enhanced Gravemarker" (U.S .Patent # 7,089,495).

You can see more about it at www.barrows.com/invention.html.

He is also the author of an as yet unpublished novel called "Cemetery of Lies."  You can read more about it at www.barrows.com/novel.html

He also co-wrote of a couple of songs called "Run For Office" and "Big Bucks." Both of the songs have gotten some airplay.

You can hear free clips of the songs at www.barrows.com/music.html and you can download them for 99 cents each on iTunes.

(Is the art getting more valuable yet?)

He has also had some poems and some articles published.

So now you know a little bit more about the artist.

HERE ARE THE PIECES OF ART AND SOME BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS:

1) “Toujours L’amour”

http://www.barrows.com/tjl-red-1.html

The bronzes of "Toujours L'amour" are priced at $7,500 on my website.

The original is in Alabaster."

HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK THE ORIGINAL MIGHT GO FOR AT AN AUCTION? (Please email your answer to barrows@barrows.com)

2) “The Girl Next Door”

http://www.barrows.com/gnd-1.html

HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK "THE GIRL NEXT DOOR" MIGHT FETCH AT AN AUCTION? (Please email your answer to barrows@barrows.com)

3) “Adam and Eve”

http://www.barrows.com/adameve-1.html

A photo of the "Adam and Eve" sculpture by Robert Barrows has also been included in an Israeli textbook on love called "Love of my Soul.")

The nature of love and the nature of art is that it often starts out one way, and ends up quite another. Life is like that, too. It starts out simple and winds up complex.

HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK "ADAM AND EVE" COULD GO FOR? (Please email your answer to barrows@barrows.com)

4) “Prom Date”

http://www.barrows.com/promdate-1.html

I called this scrawny little flat chested thing “Prom Date” because it turned out to be a scrawny little flat chested thing, not quite the prom date I had imagined….but a lot of fun nonetheless…and the truth is, my real prom date was neither scrawny nor flat chested, and she was really quite a temptress, too.

SO, HOW MUCH WOULD YOU PAY FOR PROM DATE? (Please send your answer to barrows@barrows.com)

For additional information, contact Robert Barrows at 650-344-4405, www.barrows.com.