New Orleans Auction Galleries Differ on Siting Upcoming Sales

NEW ORLEANS

:With pre-Katrina commitments to consignors weighing heavily on New Orleans' two large auction galleries, both Neal Auction Company and New Orleans Auction have finalized plans for their first sales since the hurricane. Notably, each is taking a different tack on the viability of doing business in the city which, though coming back to life more and more each day, still has so many refrigerators on the streets that eyewitnesses say people are using them like billboards to air gripes and post messages.

Neal Alford, president of Neal Auction Galleries, announced in mid-September that the annual Louisiana Purchase Auction would go off on December 3 and 4. At that time New Orleans was still under mandatory evacuation and no one knew when the order would be lifted.

He was responding to an offer made by Betsy Bradley, director of the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson. She had reached out to artists and galleries, saying the museum could provide storage space in a soon-to-be-renovated museum building. Alford would be welcome to use the same building for the auction. Although Jackson is some 188 miles from New Orleans, Alford gratefully accepted. He felt it was the only way he could assure a level playing field for clients of the estimated $2.5 million Louisiana Purchase Auction.

The Louisiana Purchase Auction will take place at 201 East Pascagoula Street, Jackson, in the same rooms that housed the renown Palaces of St Petersburg exhibition some years ago. About the shift in venue, Alford said, "We think that the people of our region - whether Natchez, Baton Rouge, Montgomery, Birmingham, and particularly New Orleans - will have access to the sale," Additionally, Neal's buyers will be able to bid via eBay's online bidding option, as they have been doing for some time.

So many others took Bradley up on the invitation to protect their art that the museum has mounted a special exhibition of some of that artwork. Entitled "Shelter From the Storm," the show will be on view until January 15.

Negotiations are underway to use a portion of the profits from the Louisiana Purchase Auction to benefit artists hard hit by the storm.

Just a few blocks downtown from Neal Auction Company is Jean Vidos's 15-year-old New Orleans Auction Gallery. Vidos has over the weeks played her cards close to the vest. It was widely reported in the trade press that New Orleans Auction Gallery and consignments being held for the upcoming season had come through the hurricane intact but that the gallery would remain closed for an indeterminate amount of time.

While rumors of an upcoming sale have been rampant, by Sunday, October 30, Vidos had not yet publicly announced the dates. When Managing Director Kelly Eppler was reached by phone that afternoon, he barely had time for an interview. Eppler was racing the clock to get a catalog to the printer.

The New Orleans Auction Gallery sale, which comprises nearly 2,000 lots originally intended for September and October sales, is slated for November 18-20. The three-day event will be conducted at the gallery's New Orleans facilities. Friday and Saturday's sessions will be staged at main gallery, 801 Magazine Street. Sunday's session will be held at the St Charles Gallery, 1330 St Charles Avenue. It is the largest sale in the history of the organization.

Eppler said that a battery of loyal clients had been contacted and asked if they would come in for a sale if it were held in New Orleans. Their answer? "Absolutely. They will be here and are excited to be the first back in the city. We're really looking forward to seeing everybody."

Since hearsay holds that FEMA has booked all hotel rooms for the next year, Eppler explained that lodging will be available. "Many hotels are open and they seem to be opening on a daily basis, just like the restaurants in the city."

Full-page ads for the auction are in the works. A print run of 2,500 catalogs has been ordered and is due on Friday, November 4; 10,000 full color brochures were scheduled to be mailed on Tuesday, Novem-ber 1. The complete details about the auction on will be available on or about Monday, November 7 at NewOrleans Auction.com.

Commenting on whether New Orleans Auction Gallery will take advantage of this opportunity to initiate new sales or advertising techniques, Eppler said, "We have a few things we don't normally do, like having a full page in New Orleans magazine." He noted that this is also the first time the company will use will use eBay's live online bidding option.

A third auction company, M. Clayton Brown, LLC, whose Annual Southern Art Auction would have been in its third year had it been held in October as planned, has not yet set an auction date. Pepper Brown, president of M. Clayton Brown, LLC, said, "It is still too early to know what to do."

Meanwhile both Neal Auction Company and New Orleans Auction Gallery are approaching their upcoming sales with all the vigor usually accorded important fall dates.

The Annual Louisiana Purchase Auction, which originated as a mid-80s brainstorm of the late Morton Goldberg, passed appropriately enough to Neal's when Goldberg was forced out of business. Since 1983, Neal's Auction Gallery has branded itself as the venue for the fine Eighteenth, mostly Nineteenth Century furniture readily found in New Orleans and the surrounding region. The work of Newcomb potters and Southern artists has helped define Neal's niche. The Louisiana Purchase Auction expands on the theme, including items provenanced from Mississippi and the East Coast. As Neal Alford said, "It still has the whole New Orleans flavor - and flair."

The Louisiana Purchase Auction catalog was in the wrap stages as of this past Monday morning. Although the principals of the company had access passes to New Orleans and the facility on Magazine Street was declared safe weeks ago, Alford said, "We had no power. No water. No nothing. So getting our material organized and photographed - we had to do it in the dark. The dark was illuminated by generators once we got permission for that." He added, "The very difficult days were a hassle for us. But some things were easy, thanks to Michelle Leckert. She had our backup server and got us situated at an office in Baton Rouge right away." Consequently, August's million-dollar sale was reconciled quickly.

The Louisiana Purchase Auction includes a Herter cabinet from the Atlantic Seaboard, a Mier Straub painting new to the market and two Walter Inglis Anderson paintings. Details of auction can be found at .

The New Orleans Auction Gallery sale will feature a selection of American paintings, a Louis XVI peer mirror owned by Helena Woolworth McCann, a private collection of vintage Lucite handbags from the 50s, a large collection of sterling silver goblets and a variety of religious items. (Images were not available at the time this paper went to press.)

Eppler was not willing to estimate the revenue anticipated from the sale. Nor could he quote a loss figure for the fourth quarter. Instead, he held out hope that the November auction will make up those potential losses.

With both auction galleries going about business to the best of their ability, the results of the coming sales could serve as a reality check on New Orleans' progress to return to normal. For example, while Neal Alford expects to hold his February sale in New Orleans, he commented, "More flights, more hotel rooms, more places playing live music; that's what I'd like to see."