The Collectors
SEARCH
Episode 36, Friday 17 October 2008
watch entire episode 
download segment videos
Tonight we hand the panel a new challenge. It’s a fact that auctions don’t always work for various reasons items often fail to sell. Certain things go out of fashion, or there are too many of them on the market, or the vendor has set a reserve price that’s too high for the bidders in the room.
So tonight we present the panel with three objects at three separate auctions. Only one is going to sell, and the panel’s job is to pick which one.
The first is a figurine, Paul Philippe’s “Russian Dancer”, in ivory and gilt-bronze, made in Paris in 1910; next is a solid silver bowl, richly overlain with cobalt blue and black enamel, by Inger Hanmann in 1968; and a classic Victorian tortoise-shell and ivory tea caddy, very attractive but slightly damaged.
The bidding quickly reached $2400, and on the strength of that the panel thought it wouldn’t be the dancer (the auctioneer would have started the bidding much higher than that); and it wouldn’t be the tea caddy because they are “a bit passé” (said Gordon) and because of the slight damage.
So they unanimously voted the silver and enamel bowl.
Wrong, it was the old tea caddy that sold, for $2400!
