The art of selling Dino Dung - Wall Street Journal

I can't let me lose an Impressionist sale in Christie or a wine auction in Sotheby's. Another will be along shortly. But when I heard that you auction manure of dinosaur I Chait I was rushed by. And with questions, not less.Daniella Zalcman for The Wall Street Journal Jake Chait with the skull of a triceratops in the Chait Gallery I.

Do I assume that the first would be: who buys dino dung? What is the market? And what about provenance? Origin is all in the auction business. I am not talking about that it was the last person to own it before the transfer to your hands. I want to say what kind of creature it manufactured. I would expect that the offal of a tyrannosaurus rex would be more valuable than some dinosaurs three feet anonymous of the Pleistocene.

"No one knows where they are," admitted Jake Chait, director of natural history of the company as he opened the case to remove the sandy Brown specimen. "There is no way of knowing."I could see his point. The device seemed, well, not necessarily dinosaur dung and manure. Everything what you could tell me that it might also have been produced by a German Shepherd. But what happens with the DNA evidence? Not can you check all DNA these days? It carried no a hole at its core, extract one shows small and find molecules of Brontosaurus there?

Daniella Zalcman skull of the cat in The Wall Street Journal in tooth Sabre "It could be a long creature makes cannot have never found a complete example of," explained Josh Chait, brother Jake mayor and director of operations auction house. There is also a third brother, Joey. It arose in the elevator in the Fuller building, where the Angels: company is renting space for the sale on Thursday, with Joey. But that is the last that VI of him. I do not know what his role in the company.

The operation is owned by his father and mother, Izzy and Mary Ann, who specialize in Chinese ceramics. He helped to explain why, for example, there may be a skeleton of giant bat or a meteorite crater in the floor of sale together with say, a container of the dynasty porcelain Ming.The price was right, however. Of the dung. I cannot speak for the Chinese ceramics. The piece Josh removed the case to enable it to examine had an estimate of the auction of $ 400 to 600 and is described in the Chait handsome catalog as "Coprolite - a specimen complete well."

It was surprisingly strong, like a rock. And that is why it is so affordable? "It is more common than, say, a fossil," said Jake. "Many people who do not know what is".I could see why. But they were to bid guarantee made that he was from the Jurassic and not since November. (Who wouldn't want that such a novelty: I could put it on the carpet in a cocktail and when someone shouted to announce, "I know what you're thinking, but it is 65 million years".)

"We have paleontologists six or seven", said Jake. "We discuss everything.""We offer a full money back guarantee," said Josh.Do not want that nobody seems to dinosaur falling and Ming vases were the only thing on the menu. There was much more surprising objects. For example, the skull of triceratops mass is estimated at a price of US $125,000 to 175,000 dollars, and the tyrannosaurus rex estimated at $250,000 to 300,000 dollars.

"We have never had before," said Jake of the triceratops. "And this is the skull of tyrannosaurus rex largest we've had."The Chaits said that most of his specimens of private collectors. They were reluctant to name their customers but described the buyers typical dinosaur as well "might be more males" and said that count from 20 to 30 members of the Forbes 400 list among their clients.Part of the charm of a fossil giant, Josh explained, is unlike, say, a Matisse, "unless you know what is you could walk right by him, a dinosaur skull is a conversation immediately".

"And his art in its own way," said Jake..Josh noted that "it is definitely sculptural".Daniella Zalcman to Coprolite right, The Wall Street Journal (feces of fossilized dinosaur).The brothers said that the celebrities are particularly avid dinosaur collectors: copy and T Rex and stegosaurus consumes the type of Lady Gaga or George Clooney oxygen does when he or she walks into a room of these days. Although he refused to disclose their clients is good to know which actors Nicolas Cage and Leonardo DiCaprio got into a bidding war for the skull of a Tyrannosaurus from 67 million years, much as the sale on Thursday, in an auction in Los Angeles i Chait in 2007. Mr. Cage won, walking with the skull (although no doubt had the posted) for $276.000.

After having visited the lab of the American Museum of Natural history where specimens such as these are freed from the rock where all these millennia has been loitering, and having witnessed the time and effort needed, was a little suspicious that the examples of Chaits seemed so complete. For example, the T Rex was better than the average West-Sider teeth."60 Or 70 per cent are real," said Jake."We insist on the pieces that anatomically and scientifically correct," added Josh.

I was wondering if the Chaits has a hadrosaurid dinosaur, my favorite growing up, with the possible exception of the brontosaurus. It seemed a gentle giant. In fact, had one in the room of to the side, next to meteorites, with an estimate of relatively modest auction of $42,000 to $48,000. "We had a year passed - feet of 15 to 20 feet, his name was Cory," Jake said. "Unfortunately, he is has not sold." "The market was still in recession and many of our businesses are brokers of large investments."It was humiliating to think that these creatures proud that once ruled the Earth now are prey to the economy, like the rest of us. "Our business fluctuates with the Dow Jones," said Josh.

-ralph.gardner@wsj.com

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Treasure in the attic - Yorkshire Post (press)

COLLECTION: John Vincent presents the page in its new collection with a guide on how set the value of a possession.The possibilities of discovering that the old left's grandmother of glass therein worth you tens of millions of pounds are about as big as winning the jackpot of the National Lottery two weeks running. A piece of Chinese porcelain Imperial of a suburban semi to recover £ 51.? does 6 m last November that people rummaging through their attics and served to ask two questions: wherever you go to find out if something is really worth anything and how to ensure that you get a good price?

Almost always, the answer is to take it to a local saleroom. There are one or two exceptions, including specialized, minority fields such as rare records, football programs or comics. But, in general, the specialists of auction room and the auction system give the answer.Let us assume vase of grandmother has to be sold. If you cannot or will not take the object in a call to saleroom ceramics specialist often it will be enough to know whether it is or is not of value. A lucid description should be an assessment of the baseball park, although the specialist will make his opinion subject to confirmation in fact seeing and handling of the piece.

You can also take a photograph in color of the piece and of manufacturers and send it to the specialist. Include a note giving measurements and any damages and any known provenance.If you have a collection vessel or, in fact, the contents of a House, saleroom specialist will need to visit him at his home. Indicate what exactly you want to the specialist values that two or more specialists covering different areas require.

Saleroom valuations are free and there is no obligation to sell. "For what he does not feel that it must sell simply because someone has visited in his house and spent time evaluating objects," said Chris Proudlove, that he has worked in the business of the auction of more than 30 years, much of it to Sotheby's and Bonhams. "The only time that imposes a burden is for written appraisals for purposes of protection and security." The auction system has some blows. Due to the competitive nature of invitation to tender, there is no higher than the price they could get limit. However, there is a safeguard against those who sell very cheap. A 'reservation' is that confidential price agreement between the vendor (the seller) and the auctioneer before the sale, below which is not allowed to sell. If it does not reach the reserve, the object is 'bought' and returned to the owner. After a successful sale, auctioneers deduction your Commission. It is usually between 10 and 15 per cent of the total of the sale, although the Commission can be as high as 25 percent, so check first.

There are alternatives to the auction house. You could try to search for it online, offer it on eBay or take it to the dealer. Reliable distributors make him an offer, but it might not be experts in that field and need to offer a price that will provide a benefit to sell. The odds are stacked against inherit nothing to compare with this Chinese vessel, but they live in hope.jravincent@jvnews.Eclipse.co.UK

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The Chinese Imperial porcelain: Meiyintang wonders - The Economist

ON 7 April, as part of its spring season in Hong Kong, Sotheby's sold 77 lots of Chinese imperial porcelain from the collection of Meiyintang. The announcement, last month the day on which the auction house held a sale of modernist art record in London, has attracted little public attention. But Chinese, news of the auction in Hong Kong followed the market of works of art were of a beam. For Meiyintang is regarded as the largest collection of Chinese treasures still in private hands in the West, a classified name along with Alfred Clark and Sir Percival David, passionate scholars, whose collections were among the most important ever made outside of the major museums in Beijing and Taipei.

Not long ago the Chinese were by the Communist Party celebrates the achievements of their ancestors. But with new fortunes by creating all the time now in China, dealers and collectors of Hong Kong and the Mainland have become enthusiastic buyers. They are thirsty of his own history, especially for anything that connects modern China with the glories of its imperial past. For the first time last year, according to a report published on 14 March, China has overtaken Great Britain to become the largest market of art in the world after America.

The demand for works of art Chinese has boosted prices, which in turn fresh treasures in the market. The traffic is almost entirely in a way. Chinese art in America and Europe is returning to China in the largest migration of culture from works European teachers traveled inexorably westward to America in the 19th century. Purchasers award rarity, quality and origin above all.

The Meiyintang collection will generate considerable Chinese interest for its quality and the secrecy surrounding its creation. Despite his fame, the collection of 2,000 rare pieces times has seen in its entirety and then only in private. Some works were exhibited in the British Museum in 1994 and at Monte Carlo two years later. The only public register is a monumental catalog by a German scholar, Regina Krahl. Although it extends to seven volumes, the catalog says nothing on which to join the collection.

Sotheby's, Ms Krahl and Giuseppe Eskenazi, distributor based in London who serves as Chief Adviser of Meiyintang, refused to identify those behind him. But The Economist has learned that the guiding hand is that of a Swiss businessman in 93 years of age, Stephen Zuellig. Born in the Philippines, Mr Zuellig and his brother, Gilbert, who died in 2009, spent 60 years building small Manila trading house based his father. Today the Zuellig group is a leading provider of services of the health care and pharmaceutical products in Asia and one of the largest companies in the region, with an annual turnover of about $ 12 million. The group, which still belongs to the family, has created a considerable fortune to the brothers.

The Zuelligs began to buy works of art Chinese in the 1950s by Helen Ling, the American wife of his partner of Singapore, which commercialized the Chinese porcelain in Shanghai. It was she who introduced them to Edward Chow, dominant Chinese coleccionista-distribuidor of post-war which was based in Hong Kong and later in Switzerland. At an early stage, the brothers were interested in the range of Chinese art, ancient to end of imperial porcelain bronzes. But they split their specialties by date: Gilbert concentrated on early ceramics from the Neolithic to the Song and Stephen dynasty porcelain of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.

They chose the name Meiyintang, which means "Hall between rosebeds" in Mandarin, but also is a play on the Meienberg in Rapperswil, Swiss roots Southeast of Zurich which his grandfather purchased in 1912, where both brothers maintain a home and Stephen Zuellig shows its treasures in an underground Gallery for a long time.

The Zuelligs sought the best specialty stores, including Priestley and Ferraro for first works. Mr Eskenazi focused in later periods, and over a quarter-century, sold (or acquired on your behalf) pieces of more than 160. But it was Chow, a collector who inspired affection combined with a degree of astonishment, that he was influential in the Zuelligs.

Three fundamental criteria guided purchases: rarity of the work, the quality of its decoration and the condition of the piece. As a general rule, particularly with the treasures of the Qing dynasty, three complejos-dimensional pieces, such as vases, takes precedence over more utilitarian cups and bowls, with flat, being smaller and less desirable objects plates. Of course, the Zuelligs were not only collectors to implement these principles, but he is said to they have been particularly rigorous in the application. It is not enough that a work is rare or important; each piece that bought also had to have a personal aesthetic. "They bought both with the heart as the head," said Nicolas Chow, Sotheby's director in charge of the sale, which is also the grandson of Edward Chow.

The auction of next month is expected to be the first of many that focus, at least for the moment, the Yuan, Ming and Qing ceramics collected by Stephen Zuellig. Select what to include in this initial sale, Mr Zuellig has chosen pieces that represent a microcosm of the entire collection, ranging from the Yuan dynasty that began in the 13th century to the glories of the reign of the Qianlong emperor and his hijoJiaqing who died in 1820.

Most important are the early Ming goods cobalt blue and red copper decoration under the enamel, the monochrome Ming and Qing pieces and porcelain enamel early Qing if famille - Verte and famille - rose. Many of the works are unique. When Mr Eskenazi held an exhibition of seven ships of "peachbloom" of the Qing dynasty in 2006, Mr Zuellig bought two more rare pieces, a waterpot, and a "glass of three strings". He had examples of others. The Group of Meiyintang (pictured above) is estimated to sell next month for 50 million dollars HK-70 m ($ 6. 4 m - 9 m). Blue and white of Mr Zuellig Chenghua "Palace Bowl" can have a clear white interior, but the exterior decoration, with its large clusters of vine of melon, all painted in a watery blue and each subtly different, is the work of Chenghua at its best. Small surprise that Sotheby's estimates the bowl will be sold for 80 million dollars HK-120 m.

Similarly, the glass of eight inches (20 cm) painted with pheasants seems quite normal until compared with others of the same type. Each example is different, but only in the Zuellig Mr pheasant vase see you the combination of cream enamels, birds placed looking by far one of the other and yet a large part of an entire landscape and the subtle coloration as if became the painting on silk, instead of porcelain. Purchased in Hong Kong at the height of the Asian crisis in 1997 for HK$ 9. 9 m, and then a record for Qing porcelain, the Meiyintang pheasant vase now estimated 180 million dollars HK-300 m.

Every primary auction starts a new collection. With rare exceptions, Chinese purchases during the last decade has been a case of buying what is fashionable and expensive instead of collecting aesthetic passion and scholarly knowledge. Zuelligs Meiyintang porcelain is much a European collection of a particular flavour. China has some museums extraordinary, but not old collectors for new buyers to emulate. This will change over time, and the new private collections in China soon may be so unique in its way, as the Meiyintang is now.

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The glass project comes to Lafayette April 1 - May 21 - Lafayette College Campus News

The glass project: made in China: landscape in Blue consists of 101 porcelain vases painted by artists of Qing Hua (blue and white) in Jingdezhen, China, between 2004 and 2006. The exhibition will be on display at the Gallery of the Williams Center, May 21, 1 April.

Although all the vases represent a landscape, traditionally found in vases, curator Barbara Diduk, Dana Professor of art at the Dickenson University, played a special role in the creation of the works. She requested the first artist to paint the glass with a landscape by incorporating the batteries of ubiquitous oven of the city and provided an outline of what you had in mind. The second painter received a green white ceramic vase and asked to use the first piece of inspiration.

One painted and fired at a later time painters referred to the earlier work. The result is a "chain letter" of 101 vase paintings, a file of life of the current painting in Jingdezhen, which incorporates the historic practices. Together, the pieces constitute a statement about the relationship between traditional and contemporary artifacts. The full value of the aesthetic of the exhibition arises only to see the works as a whole. For this show, the pieces are displayed in the order completed to accentuate its linear relationship.

The parts comprising the installation were created during a time of economic transition in Jingdezhen, known as the capital of porcelain, where thousands of objects still are created and hand-painted. Based on visual narrative, sociological study of part and part of archived document, the exhibition pays tribute to artists largely unacknowledged receipt and captured artisans working in a time of profound economic transformation.

Diduk, who is also a ceramic artist, will give the talk "Copy, counterfeit, and capitalism" in the ceramic art of the Chinese world at 4: 10 pm on Thursday, April 14, in the Williams Center Room 108.  Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, Saturday and Sunday mediodía-5 pm and 7: 30-9 pm on the nights of public performances in the Centre of Williams. For more information, please contact with Michiko okaya, director of galleries Lafayette, (610) 330-5361 or e-mail.

In addition, Maris Gillette, whose research focuses on Jingdezhen and the effects of potters of China's transition to a market economy, will the Carol p. Dorian ' 79 Memorial Conference in history of art at 4: 10 hours on Wednesday6 April, in Room 108 from downtown Williams. An anthropologist, curator and filmmaker based in Philadelphia, Gillette is Professor and Chairman of anthropology and coordinator of Islamic studies and Middle East at Haverford College.

Exhibitions in the Gallery of the Williams Center are financed in part by a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the arts, a State agency funded by the State of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the arts.

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