Tuesday, November 13, 2012

A Dog and a Preacher Man

While checking out a local Antique Mall recently, I came across an R A Miller "Preacher Man" tin cutout.  At the time I felt the dealer had it priced a little too high, so I decided not to purchase it.  However, that quirky little cutout kept pestering my thoughts.  I began looking online for more of his work and came across an awesome auction house in Georgia - located not 20 miles from where we used to live!  The auction house had quite a few pieces by R A Miller, and hundreds more by the likes of Bill Traylor, S L Jones, Herbert Singleton, Purvis Young, Howard Finster, etc. etc. etc.  But best of all, the Slotin Folk Art Auction would be holding their semiannual art auction in just a matter of days!

So after getting over the initial annoyance of not having known of the Slotin Folk Art Auction House while living in Georgia, I prepared myself for the day of the auction and waited patiently for my lots to come up.  If you've ever bid online during a live auction, you know how nerve-wracking the process can be!  

In addition to the R A Miller lots, there was a Howard Finster piece I had to have, but as expected, all of his work was closing for much higher than my pocket book could afford.  And by the time you add taxes, commissions and shipping, you're in for much more than you want to be anyways, so I passed on the lot.  Then, much to my dismay, the R A Millers were closing higher than they ever had historically!  So from an investment standpoint, it didn't make sense to move forward on them either. 

The auction was a bust.  I was really bummed out that we wouldn't be hanging any new folk art anytime soon.  But! Coincidentally, the Hillsboro Antique Mall began advertising a 15th Anniversary Sale through November 15.  So yesterday, I decided to head back over there to check it out.  The particular dealer I was interested in was offering 15% off, so the price was right on the Preacher Man and I decided to get it.  After seeing how high everything was going at the Slotin Folk Art Auction, I ended up getting a pretty sweet deal.  Plus, I only had to pay taxes.  No commissions.  No shipping fees. Score!

And in addition to the Preacher Man, the dealer had a Dog by R A Miller that was offering a 15% discount as well...so I got it too!  What a difference a day makes!  I am elated!

Dog and Preacher Man by R A Miller

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