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Collecting thoughts Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli Ann Cramer carried an old copy of the Declaration of Independence to a talk in Medford Thursday by a representative of Sotheby's auction house, hoping to find out whether the document was one of 20 originals. Sotheby's director gives tips on art and antiques at Craterian forum By BILL VARBLE Mail Tribune There's always a market for extravagant boy toys. American furniture buffs are among the world's most fanatical collectors. It's all about supply and demand. Such are the nuggets tossed out by Sotheby's Rick Wolf in an art collecting seminar Thursday at the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater in Medford. Wolf, Sotheby's West Coast managing director, was asked to talk to interested Southern Oregonians by Michael Barnes of Wells Fargo Bank in Medford, and some 200 art mavens have come to the by-invitation event to hear Wolf. Before his slide show, they peruse the literature (investment analysis from Wells Fargo, copies of the 2001 tax relief law) and sample the free munchies. Wolf shows a slide of an early American chair, sans upholstery, which he says went for $2.3 million. "An expensive place to put your butt," he says. Not all Wolf's slides are fine art, oil paintings, jewelry and the like. One that draws chuckles is the burned-out hulk of a Soviet space capsule, which he says sold for $1.2 million. "I always thought it would make a nice planter," he says. Wolf's entertaining insights are woven through a wide-ranging talk on art and economics, market fluctuations and estate planning. "Power and wealth have always surrounded themselves with the trappings of wealth and power," he says. Among those wondering about their collectibles is Grants Pass-area resident Ann Cramer, who brings what she hopes is one of 20 original copies of the Declaration of Independence. The apparently aged document is under glass in a worn, black frame. "I've had it under my bed for years," she says. Cramer got it at an estate sale in Denver, Colo. The Smithsonian Institution offered to look at it, but she doesn't know how she'd get it there. A bona fide copy recently sold for $3.2 million. Merle Drake of Cave Junction is interested in the economics of art. His artist son has sold sculptures for up to $35,000 (for a carving of 13 salmon), but Drake isn't entirely sure he's being treated right by dealers. Catherine Vare, Sotheby's Pacific Northwest director, says Sotheby's does events like this all over the country as part of its marketing efforts. "We work with clients who are interested in buying and selling," she says. "If you have a Monet, I can help. For regional artists, I can't say. We refer people to local people." She and Wolf don't evaluate documents, however. Wolf is a Philadelphia native and art expert who in 20 years at Sotheby's worked with the estates of Greta Garbo, Henry Ford II and Jackie Onassis. Sotheby's has recently sold artworks by Renoir, Monet and Picasso. It has branched into luxury real estate, a partnership with online auctioneer e-Bay and even an art school leading to graduate degrees. Former Sotheby's chairman Alfred Taubman was convicted in December of conspiring with Anthony Tennant, chairman of the Christie's auction house in England, to fix commissions in a scheme that defrauded customers of an estimated $400 million. In the long run, such incidents don't figure to dent the art market. "Everyone collects something," Wolf says. "An auction is the most capitalistic form of exchange." The average price of all the items Sotheby's sells is only about $10,000, Wolf says. He says the list of hot collectibles includes: Disney animated celluloids (still produced, even though theater features are now computer generated). Sports memorabilia (got a good Honus Wagner card? It's worth about $1 million). Wines. "You can put together an extraordinary wine cellar," Wolf says, "for the price of one mediocre Impressionist drawing." Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.