Art Auctions

[maxx]

Can anyone tell me about the art auctions? I read somewhere, possibly on an international forum, that it's a free way to grab a drink!! I'm more interested in a price range for the paintings, altho a glass of wine while I'm watching &/or bidding would be nice ;) .

Is there only one auction?

Is there a charge to attend?

Probably dumb questions but that's what I love about this forum.

[chaz cruiser]

Hi Maxx,

When we went on the Sun in September there were several art auctions (mostly on sea days). Yes they encourage people to attend by giving out free P&O bubbly (for those of you who have cruised with P&O you know what this stuff is like!!) on a couple of occasions (I think the first & last definately). They also have give away pieces. Flyers in the Daily Sun (lucky door prizes), "purple chair" draws (special chairs you had to get in quickly to get), a draw for all people who have bought pieces and a trivia card special (you had to see the art guy in the gallery and answer a question to get a ticket) to name a few.

 

I went to one of the later auctions (mostly so I could say I went to one, not so much because I wanted to buy art). The prices were reasonable as far as I could see. They ranged from a couple of hundred dollars up to quite a few thousand. I think the cheapest sold at the auction I went to was $120 and the dearest was an original piece of art where the reserve was $41,000 (this one didn't sell by the way!!). I believe the prices were something like 40-80% off retail. But really what is the true cost of art!! There was also a buyers premium on top of the auction price and you had to pay shipping and insurance but I can't remember how much these were.

 

All of the pieces have a reserved price and will not sell below that. One of the other things that they had was the price was only increased by 3 bids (defined levels). At that point if there was more than one copy of that piece available anyone could buy it for that price. The art guy was extremely knowledgable, and if anything talked too much.

 

They have several payment options. Pay up front with either cash or credit card at the pursers desk after the auction or the ability to have a line of credit (I think it was for 21 days) to give you time to go home and mortgage the house or rob the savings accounts.

 

The art work is then sent from somewhere in the US. The art work is all around the ship and you can flag a piece to be included in the auction if you specifically want to purchase it (I think you got cards from the Art Gallery near the Photo shop or the pursers desk). The art guy was in the Art Gallery several times also to answer questions or just display his knowledge.

 

Hope this helps. I didn't actually buy any art work but one of the ladies at our table bought a surprise piece (was covered until the end of the auction) for $75. It was apparently worth $600!!

 

Cheers,

Chaz:)

[Skyrules]

The Art Auctions are a bit of fun if you are interested in that sort of thing. On the first full day at sea they'll probably have an introductory session with free champagne, so you yes, good way to get a free drink! After that there's usually an auction each day the ship is 'at sea'.

 

Prices ranged anywhere from $50 for small unframed prints up to over $10,000 (aussie dollars). It's a bit difficult to explain the art auctions.....

 

There is no charge to attend the Auctions, and you can ask for a particular painting to be 'brought up' with no comittemnt to actually buying it.

 

If you do buy a piece of artwork you are charged;

 

- the auction price

- a commission (although it's not called that)

- shipping costs (which vary according to size)

 

 

Any artwork you buy will either;

 

a) be sent back to the 'fulfilment centre' in Florida US, where it is reframed, reglassed and sent back to you (takes 8-12 weeks) IF that is the last of the painting they have available.

 

b) be dispatched from the 'fulfilment centre' if there is one available... this results in a quicker delivery.

 

the cost of the painting is charged to your on board cruise account.

 

 

 

 

Can anyone tell me about the art auctions? I read somewhere, possibly on an international forum, that it's a free way to grab a drink!! I'm more interested in a price range for the paintings, altho a glass of wine while I'm watching &/or bidding would be nice ;) .

Is there only one auction?

Is there a charge to attend?

Probably dumb questions but that's what I love about this forum.

[aussiedisneyfan]

They weren't around when I last cruised. However, I have a "Newspaper" from the cruise ending last week. When I get home I will post the details.

[aussiedisneyfan]

Well my post was a bit pointless wasn't it? :rolleyes: My computer at work doesn't seem to like this board anymore.

 

On the last cruise the art person was called Degas.

[maxx]

Thanks for the info, it sounds great, my problem is that I love auctions.....easy to overspend.

[claudio]

i was on sky in august and degas was running the art auctions there the people at my table bought 8 pieces itold them they were stupid they didnt appreciate my comments. anyway p&o /carnival etc all have art auctuon and as far as i am led to believe every ship in their fleet auctions the same prints worldwide , and then they will send them to you from some warehouse in usa.most are crap and you can pick up similar type stuff at kmart/ target and those chinese people who try to sell them door to door. the paintings are not originals i believe they are numbered copies and if you believe degas you are buying an investment i reckon a fool and his money is soon parted i think the same people buy those stupid chains by

the metre. ask any reputable art house in australia to value your shipboard prints and weep, im not writing this to be a smartarse i just dont like to see people relieved of thier hard earned cash

[rockie]

Lighten up Claudio.:eek::rolleyes: I loved attending these auctions and the highest bid on the sky on the July cruise was $16 thousand, well I saw one go for that and don't know if any went for more afterwards as I had to get away for the bingo jackpot. If people love the art they are bidding on, good on them, it is their money to be spent their way. I found the whole thing really interesting.

[maxx]

It's entertainment Claudio but I take note of your warning.

It will be interesting to watch people bidding, probably not me.

It sounds like a nice way to pass some time.

[aussiedisneyfan]

I don't know if they announce it to the audience or not but there are sometimes fake auctions for fun.

 

Keepcruising has the full details, but the basis was her sister bid $45000 for a painting for their mother and the whole family was having a heart attack. She won the auction and later on they fessed up that it was all a setup. Don't know whether they only told the family it was a joke or whether is was a public announcement.

[maxx]

I don't know if they announce it to the audience or not but there are sometimes fake auctions for fun.

 

Keepcruising has the full details, but the basis was her sister bid $45000 for a painting for their mother and the whole family was having a heart attack. She won the auction and later on they fessed up that it was all a setup. Don't know whether they only told the family it was a joke or whether is was a public announcement.

Now that would be fun.....not sure my hubby's heart would cope!!! Might be a good scam for us to play on the boys. Will remember that, thanks.

[Skyrules]

A lot of the Art is good quality - but I guess art is a very personal thing - and what you think is wonderful art, I might think is paint thrown at canvas!

 

A bit more info on the bidding process - there are 3 bids on each piece, so you can't really get too carried away. And in fact the piece of art we bought, for A$315, we were the only bidders, so we actually paid the 'reserve' price as no-one was bidding against us.

 

They claim that the art is considerably cheaper buying it this way compared to buying it on land - as Donavan (the South African auctioneer on our cruise) kept saying he was ''shocked at the prices art gallery's in Mossman were charging" for the same artworks that were on the ship. How much of this was true we weren't sure as we'd never been into an art gallery in Mossman!

 

There was a group on our cruise that bought a considerable number of expensive paintings - but if the claim that they were worth a lot more was true - they could have easily made a profit on them by selling them on ebay (that was another favourite claim of Donavan's - he even had printouts to prove it :rolleyes: ) or to a gallery.

 

Kym

 

 

i was on sky in august and degas was running the art auctions there the people at my table bought 8 pieces itold them they were stupid they didnt appreciate my comments. anyway p&o /carnival etc all have art auctuon and as far as i am led to believe every ship in their fleet auctions the same prints worldwide , and then they will send them to you from some warehouse in usa.most are crap and you can pick up similar type stuff at kmart/ target and those chinese people who try to sell them door to door. the paintings are not originals i believe they are numbered copies and if you believe degas you are buying an investment i reckon a fool and his money is soon parted i think the same people buy those stupid chains by

the metre. ask any reputable art house in australia to value your shipboard prints and weep, im not writing this to be a smartarse i just dont like to see people relieved of thier hard earned cash