The Osian Trust auction that is slated for August 14, in Mumbai, despite claims of being a curated auction, is, in fact, no more than a collection of various types of bric-a-brac dressed up in slick conceptualisation.

Artistically, the works exhibition at the Art Today and Queen?s Gallery in New Delhi, belong to at least four different genres, representational academic art and its primitive copies or engravings, both antique and modern; cartoons; posters and bazaar art; and, of course, contemporary art. The last is spread quite thin in this auction, while folk art, an important element of our contemporary art, is missing.

The thematic presentation that holds the show together, is ?A Historical Epic: India in the Making, 1757-1950,? a concept that is as vague as it is faulty. This epic fails to distinguish between the conventional and academic expression of colonial representational art and its less than memorable imitators and the irreverent, trenchant and original art of our modern art movements linked to the freedom struggle, (represented by various groups of artists known by geographical locations like Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai; Delhi and Srinagar); with bazaar art and cinematic memorabilia thrown in for good measure, but of no art historical relevance in themselves.

True, there are works that have antique value; there are others that have historical relevance; yet others that are merely trendy. They will sell, but they are not art investments. Some of the works, if stripped of their historical interest, are just plain junk. But still, the effort at putting this smorgasbord of art, cartoons and Kitsch together – and the documentation that goes with it – is something to be admired. But the same effort put in to assemble a proper auction of our contemporary art would have borne more fruit.

Still, even within the limitations of a vision that has nothing to do with art history, there are works investors ought to look at seriously to add to their collections. They are few and far between; but they are there.

There are works like Rathin Maitra?s ?Refugees? of 1948 (lot 129) whose central point is a brown bundle which is a precursor of a Nagji Patel abstract emerging out of a figurative work. Later, we find the bundle emerging as a theme in Arpana Caur?s work. It is interesting how the bundle is an important theme in the life of a people constantly on the move on account of invasions, riots and economic hardships. No wonder that the bundle as a metaphor plays such an important role in our sufi and bhakti philosophical discourse. This work is an early example of this and important also from the angle of the abstract/figurative debate. It should fetch something between Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. And that would not be too high a price for a significant Calcutta Group artist like Moitra.

Other works of interest are: Ratan Parimoo?s oil on canvas (lot 129) of Gandhi?s last prayer meeting with a pistol-taking Godse who can be seen as 1957 precursor of Arpita Singh?s pistol carrying men. Then there is a Sailoz figure of a militant peasant by Sailoz Mookerjea (lot 125) that ought to go for over Rs 1 lakh. Then there are some significant studies of the Bengal famine by Goberdhan Ash, Chitta Prasad, Paritosh Sen and Somenath Hore that are very good investments indeed, as are Bijon Choudhury?s and Qamarul Hasan?s works. These are all works that will interest collectors specialising in avant garde art and must be chosen carefully by assessing their aesthetic quality. Also, my usual caveat about making sure of the authenticity of the works holds.

In general, the prices expected (as in all auctions) are a little on the high side and docking them by about 30 per cent would be reasonable.

There are a lot of memorabilia whose pricing follows quite a different graph from that of contemporary art. Also, their value as investment is based on criteria other than those for aesthetic works. So, a general analysis of prices of this auction is not of much use to us as an index of what is good to invest in. But, on the positive side, some effort has gone into presenting and documenting memorabilia, creating a better base to choose from in future, which is necessary to give them the worth they require as an investment.