18. SOLD FOR A SONG: TWO ALANO PORTRAITS ON EBAY

I am posting these two Ben Alano (1920-1991) ethnic portraits to prove a point that there are still affordable works that one could find of this painter who belonged to the once-lowly regarded Mabini group of commercial artists.

 This pair of matching ethnic portraits, favorite subjects of many Ermita artists at the height of the Mabini craze for souvenir art, were offered on ebay recently. The pair had a starting bid of $200 (around PhP 9, 200++, or Php4,600 each) and the bidding period was for 5 days.

 Previous Alano canvass paintings on ebay have been selling briskly with ending bids often breaching the $600 mark. His velvet paintings sell much less because the material is hard to keep. Alano prices continue to rise due to a surge in demand, fuelled by a core group of international Filipiniana art enthusiasts that actively deals on ebay.

Inexplicably, Alano paintings available on the market in the Philippines are outrageously priced, the most extreme being priced at half a million for a Filipina nude. It’s no surprise that it’s been on a local buy-and-sell online site for years, unsold and gathering dust. That is why, I have taken to searching on ebay instead, for these fine examples of Filipiniana art.

I kept watch on these paintings which I really like; the fact that they were being sold as a pair enhanced their appeal to me (most of the time, matching paintings are broken up to be sold separately). There were no bids up to the very last day, but then, I knew there were a lot of ebay snipe bidders out there, who wait for the last minute to place their bids. My fingers did not leave the keyboard as the seconds ticked away, and in the dying 10 seconds of the auction, I placed my bid. When the page was refreshed, I had a congratulatory message—I had won the pair of Alano portraits for $200..but the bigger shock was, I was the lone bidder. Now where was every one? Either people were asleep or looking the other away.

I quickly paid my new possessions online, had them shipped to my sister’s U.S. address and contacted the owner to ask about the paintings’ provenance. It turned out, that the ebay seller, a gracious lady named Dolores, had a Filipino-American father-in-law born in the Philippines, who was an avid art collector of this genre. He was proud of his Philippine roots and instilled in his son the same love for his heritage by bringing these paintings to America until he passed away.

 Dolores had been quietly disposing his father’s collection through ebay and I was lucky to have chanced upon the paintings she uploaded last week. She will be glad to know that they are in good hands and they are going home.

 One man’s souvenirs of 58 years ago are now another man’s art treasures.

11. I AM CERTIFED ebay JUNKIE

So here I am checking my ebay profile:

Member since 20 April 1999. 227 transactions. An impeccable 100% Positive feedback. No negatives. Not even neutral comments. With a record 8 purchases in the last month alone. Ebay must be proud. I don’t know if my mother feels the same. All these brown-wrapped packages and Fedex boxes arriving in the mail bode ill for my already crowded SSS box house. Another object of affection means another shelf to make, another space to fill. And they just keep coming: old photos, religious paintings, vintage figurines, armless saints, rusty lunchboxes, Carmen Miranda coloring books and collectible Coke bottles.

 But I can’t help myself. There is an ebay itch I have to scratch. Why, a few years ago, when I and my friends bidded on an Amorsolo painting on ebay sold from Austria, the feverish bidding even made it to the local paper (the exciting account was written by Jose ‘Butch’ Dalisay ), with me losing the painting to a Filipino doctor based abroad. See, my rabid ebaying makes good copy.

 True, bidding and buying online is not only addicting, it can be hazardous to one’s resources and reason. I have bought lemons and fake antiques, received damaged goods and have items lost forever in the mail. But after nine years of ebaying, I can say that I had more good times than bad. I have managed to amass quite a few rare finds on ebay, acquired at reasonable—and sometimes, ridiculously low prices, lending credence to every basurero’s belief that trash does indeed, yield treasure.

 Let me present my Favorite Top 5 ebay finds:

 I have a tie for 5th place, 2 examples of Eastern and Western art...

5.  FILIPINIANA TIPOS Y COSTUMBRES DEL PAIS FIGURES

These are well-made and highly detailed escayola (plaster of paris) figurines that showed typical costumes of common Filipinos in the early 1900s. The pair—depicting Filipina vendors-- was sold by a friendly American ebayer and which I won after a heated bidding against another Philippine-based buyer (who I found out later, was my own antique dealer-friend!). They are actually cheaper commercial versions of woodcarved and polychromed figures that were in vogue at this time, carved by artists like Graciano Nepomuceno. These figurines were marked at the bottom with “I. Beck”, a leading emporium near Escolta, Manila originally established by Jewish businessman Isaac Beck in 1898 as American Bazaar. I paid $130 for this pair. The seller offered--for an additional 20$--a 3rd figure which she said was moderately damaged. I still whack my head every now and then for not taking up her offer.

 5. CALVARIO TRAGANT ART IN A GLASS DOME

This wonderful 19th c. Calvario tableau, encased in a fragile glass dome, survived its trip from Belgium (where the seller was based) to the Philippines—although the cross fell off and had to be re-glued. The whole ensemble is made of “tragant”, a stabilization/bonding agent used by pharmacists of old. When mixed with water, sugar and sometimes, eggs, it forms a kneadable dough that can be shaped into various figures on flat molds—much like a cookie. It hardens, becomes less porous and can thus be painted. Tragant art was a favorite past time of monasteries in Europe in the 19th century. And this treasure became mine for only $45!

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 4. MOUNTAIN MAID, C.V. LOPEZ PAINTING

The ebay seller of this fine ethnic painting was a gallery in California. I was fascinated not only by the fact that this piece was painted by the noted Mabini painter Crispin Villafuerte Lopez (1903-1985), but the subject looked so much like my sister who grew up in Baguio! Anyway, back to the artist. C.V. Lopez was a well-known portraitist who won 1st prize for a Rizal portrait in a painting competition to celebrate the hero’s birthday centenary. But, he also painted mandatory landscapes and genre scenes. His paintings locally command a starting price of Php60,000, but I got this framed piece for only $60++ (roughly PhP 3,000) dollars, shipped all the way to the Philippines!

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 3. BLANCO “FLORA DE FILIPINAS” PRINTS

Spanish Fr. Manuel Blanco O.S.A, was sent to the Philippines and served as cura parocco in several parishes. He also became a Rector provincial and Prior of Guadalupe, where he died in 1845. He documented his life works on Philippine flowers and plants in his book, Flora de Filipinas, the 3rd edition of which contained colored illustrated plates of local flowering plants, now highly prized by collectors. The ebay seller was a gallery in Sta. Ana, California. I won one colored plate earlier for 45$. Two years or so later, I contacted him again with the intention of acquiring more prints, but his prices have since doubled. But $90 is still a reasonable amount to pay for a handsome Blanco print which commands 5-digit prices in the Philippines.—if you can find one.

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 Again, it's a tie for 2nd place:

2. SAN FRANCISCO DE PAOLA, MEXICAN COLONIAL PAINTING

This painting on a canvass of San Francisco de Paola, the Italian beggar- friar saint and founder of the Minim Order, came from a Mexican seller. It was dirty, damaged and was without it stretcher. However, it still retained its vibrant colors despite its age and a glaring tear on the canvass. It was also dated at the back (1876). I won this fine piece for under $100, and had it shipped to the U.S. for safekeeping. When it arrived in the Philippines, it was expertly restored by a local painter and reframed in an appropriate Italian gilt frame. It is one of my most favorite pieces, showing the saint in his austere habit and a sunburst bearing the word "Caritas" (charity), a virtue he was well-known for.

 2. ECCE HOMO PASTEL PAINTING

Now here's a large painting found by an American ebay seller from a Philadelphia estate sale. The seller put this up with a "Buy It Now" option for $200 as she was rushing to raise funds for her daughter's wedding. The highly detailed pastel work depicting the tortured Christ, crowned and holding a reed scepter, came in its original carved gold-painted frame and its original 'bubbly' glass. Due to the size (it was over 2 x 2 square), I had it shipped to the U.S. with the intention of carting it home when I get there for my regular vacations. But it was just too big to handle, so it was crated and shipped to the Philippines where it arrived safe and sound after another month of waiting.

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 And my best, most valuable and prized ebay find...

1. INMACULADA CONCEPCION RELICARIO PAINTING

This oval centerpiece is circumscribed by several layers of pearls and a number of relics (Getsemani, Diego del Alcala, Calvario) , and further surrounded by wired beads, sequins, fabric flowers and gold embroidery. Doves made from balsa wood and cut-out Victorian Angels mounted on springs make unusual accents as they move when the shadow box is shaken.

This item—found in Bulacan and which I now had reframed-- came away with no bids and I purchased it from the dealer after, for the tidy sum of P3,000. I have since been offered Php140,000 for this treasure, but I am not budging. And what have you found on ebay lately? (22 June 2008)