2016 was kicked off with a liquidation sale, hoping to get our hands on some nice rugs for the house and perhaps a few other impressive pieces.  We were expecting good deals.

We drove 2 hours to the auction house and were greeted by a large room filled with art, rugs and furniture.  Not too sure where this loot came from, but the auction was sponsored by US Treasury.  I can only suspect that the goods were seized from bankruptcies, illicit activities and perhaps even Joaquín Guzmán‘s lavish warehouse.

Either way, we walked around and inspected all the goods carefully, to prepare ourselves for the auction.  We spotted a few nice rugs and took our seats in the audience.

Impressive art pieces were sold off which included original sketches and paintings from Chagall, Picasso, Dali, Miro and many other famous artist (living and dead).  It was a fairly intimidating to sit among a small group of people who had no problems forking out $3-15 thousand for these pieces.  Many were a steal for these buyers as they would go for 10 times more in art auctions.

My wife and I glanced at each other throughout the first hour and were both amazed with the bidding and purchases.  With these prices, we would not be able to buy anything, but we stayed for a bit longer.

Suddenly a line of art pieces were presented by Chagall, whom my wife really like.  It weren’t the originals, but limited lithographs of the original.  I could tell my wife was impressed with these pieces.

The liquidator offered the line (4 paintings) and the person winning the bid would get first choice.

Without having control of my right arm, I suddenly raised my pad to indicate I wanted to buy a piece.  I identified the piece and it was accepted.  And, according to auction rules, there was no backing out.

I had no idea what came over me. I vaguely remember having minor panic attack when it went down. I must have been possessed by the Dark Lord, or some X-Men mind control.

My wife was utterly surprised (not as much as I) and had witnessed the whole event in slow-motion.  She wasn’t mad. Phew!!

At first I thought I had bought a poster in a frame, and was extremely pissed at myself for trying to impress my wife of 14 years.  What the hell was I thinking?  We came to buy rugs and now I was the happy owner of a Chagall lithography.  Very limited edition with a certification of authenticity.

This was insane, but yet a cool feeling.  It was by no means as expensive as the other pieces.  My wife was impressed and gave me a sexy wink. AND, a strict warning followed by a sucker punch not to do it again 🙂

This was our first and probably last auction.

However, I have now joined the art collector group, although this piece will be able to fund my kids’ college tuition.  Might cover the books for year 1.