Tom Warburton hosts
Reported on by your secretary, Linda Beck.
Before I go into my general summary of the 2008 ASIFA East Auction, entertain me for just one paragraph while I expound on the importance of community building. If you’ve just fallen off the turnip truck, let me break some news to you: you are very lucky to be in the New York animation industry. It is very small and those in the community are very loyal to one another. Many of our ASIFA programs can be categorically classified as networking, education, or entertainment events. The Auction can be labeled entertainment, but offers a rare and candid opportunity to get to know people unlike any other event in a very casual and low pressure setting. Not to mention you can get some seriously awesome loot. Clump clump. That is me getting off of my soapbox.
For those of you who haven’t gone, there’s no need to be scared, here’s how it works: First of all, you’re not obligated to buy anything and, for the low low price of ZERO DOLLARS, you get the Tom Warburton show. It’s well worth the price of your admission and more! Tom lays out all the goods in the front of the room. Before the auction begins, you take the handy dandy program, typed up by Tom himself, and look at everything, noting what you think you’d like to bid on. Everyone sits down and Tom starts the bidding at $25 for Lot 1, whatever that happens to be. It’s not scary. All you do is call out, “$25.” or “I’ll go $25.” When there are no more competing bids, Tom says, “Going once, going twice… Sold for $115!” (or whatever the closing price is) and then he writes that price on a piece of paper with the Lot number and his assistant (this year me) delivers it to the winner of the bid. See? Easy peesy.
Here are a few highlights and photos from this year. Next time, please come and see for yourself as it is a riotously good time. Special thanks to Tom and to Dave Levy and to those who donated artwork and auction items! You and our greedy, competitive auction attendees (I am included in that lot), have helped to replenish the ASIFA East bank account with a much needed $3,000.
TOP FIVE FIERCEST BIDDING WARS (although there were others):
Rocko’s Modern Life Marker Sketch
Kidrobot Simpsons Collectible Art Figures and DIY Glow In The Dark Munny Doll
Hellboy Original Inked Comic Book Pages
Lou Romano (from Pixar) Abstract Art
Genndy Tartakovsky original ink wash of Samurai Jack
AUCTIONEER QUOTES:
“Don’t let them do it to you…These are YOUR toys!”
“SQUARE… for those of you who don’t like the rectangular stuff…”
“He signed in SILVER pen – which is worth more money.”
“You get the Cel AND a copy of the film… so when you watch it and get to that part you can say, ‘that’s MINE!'”
“THIS IS YOUR YEAR TO BEAT THE PRESIDENT OF ASIFA!”
“Mo (Willems)’ll be mad if this doesn’t sell for over $200. He said he’d hit me.”
“He coloured in the lines but he missed right here which only increases the value.”
“For all you know, this could be the next Sponge Bob and you could say, ‘I bought this for $65 when people were stupid.'”
“This was found behind Fran (Krause)’s toilet. I had my expert team take all the poop off.”
“I only get these every couple of years. He doesn’t mail these to me and say, ‘Here, Tom, get rid of these.”
ABUSE OF AUDIENCE BY AUCTIONEER:
“You guys need to go to bidding school!”
“Some of you haven’t bid on anything and I know who you are and I don’t like it.”
ODDEST AUCTION ITEMS OF THE NIGHT:
Framed Mickey Mouse drawing on brown paper signed by W. Disney found behind Fran Krause’s toilet.
First Edition “Animated Cartoons” by E.D. Lutz
Click below to see more pictures of the fun night:
Woah, was this our highest bid?
buyers look over art
Linda keeps a tally
Oh man, that was a ton of fun
I was so wasted.
I was shocked at how much money some people were willing to spend on some of that stuff. I spent much of that week lamenting on how bad the economy is, and feeling a responsibility to rationalize my own spending. I wish I could have spent more than what I allowed myself that night. Hopefully, things will be better next year. At least I was given one of the items as a birthday present, courtesy of Katie Cropper.
I was one of those people who was willing to spend lots of money on some of that stuff. And then, two days later, the NYU paper published an article on the psychology of auction audiences. Major discovery: they spend WAY more than they would under normal circumstances. Damn you, Tom Warburton! (When’s the next one?)