Christie's -- Adrianna Borgia

Overall, our visit to Christie's gave me yet another perspective of the art world. Rather than view old manuscripts and books from a conservation or informational perspective, Christie's made me think about them as a collector or a business man would. In some ways, this felt a bit strange. As I stepped into the building, I felt that I was both in an art museum as well as a corporation. Not only was there a description printed next to each painting, but also a price range as well. This felt a bit strange to me, putting a monetary value to art. In some ways, it made me feel that I'm really not very knowledgeable when it comes to the art world. It seemed that every painting that I felt was really beautiful or provoking was worth a lot less than others that I found merely "okay."

I feel that the value of a painting or any type of art (visual or literary) greatly depends on who created it. As Frances Wahlgren stated, a sketch that took Picasso an afternoon to make could yield thousands, even millions of more dollars than a rare manuscript. He told us that overall, it's rare for a book or manuscript to make over two million dollars. We should ask why then that Shakespeare's first folio alone was auctioned off for 6.1 million dollars? Part of the reason could be what I stated before: it is because of who wrote it. Like Picasso or Monet, Shakespeare is a universally recognized figure. In a way, his image and status in both the American and international mindset is what allows his work to "sell itself," ever at the price of over 6 million dollars.

I found the overall atmosphere of the place to be friendlier than I expected as well. From the receptionists to coat room (believe me, I've met many disgruntled coat room people, and luckily, Christie's had none), everyone was very accommodating and friendly. I was also pleasantly surprised with our host, Mr. Wahlgren as well. I was worried that he would be a little uptight like the main librarian of the Hampden Booth library, but as it turned out, he was the complete opposite. He was very energetic, amiable, and overall likeable guy. Not only did he show us the catalogue for the folio sales, but he also went through the trouble of getting us copies of the pages describing the volumes, which was thoughtful of him. I also thought it was cool that we got to see the video of the first folio sale, because it was interesting to see both the tension between the buyers, as well as the tension that Mr. Wahlgren was feeling as well.

His comparison between an auction house and a library definitely showed how business and conservation take different views on rare books. Whereas in a library like the Morgan, one can only touch a special text with gloves and a recommendation, in an auction house like Christie's, anyone is allowed to interact with it, whether it be the first folio or an early edition of Alice in Wonderland. In a way, an auction house is a like a museum where you can touch things. Though this concept may be a conservationist's worst nightmare, in the business world, it makes sense. If you're asking people to buy a rare book for a large sum of money, they want to be sure that what they're buying is intact and in good condition. In a way, after observation the conflict of conservation between different library settings, it was interesting to see a different institution in which touching something as sought after as the first folio is acceptable.