The on-line sale of works of art by the internet auctioneers, http://www.saffronart.com, that took place between May 13 and May 16, had participants from 25 countries, managed to sell 111 of a total of 223 lots, a 50 per cent success. It shows that Indian contemporary art still holds its market. This should not surprise us, as the work that sold for the highest amount, Tyeb Mehta?s ?Woman with a Bird? (102 cm x 76 cm) of the 1950s fetched nearly Rs 11.3 lakh ($23,500), which shows that Indian art still sells at something like a quarter of its price–a slight improvement from the past, when it used to sell at a fifth or sixth of its worth.

Some of the lots of the Saffronart auction on exhibition at Taj in Mumbai

The sales of MF Husain, FN Souza and Anjolie Ela Menon are a good barometer of what sells in the market and how it has appreciated in the last six years or so. In 1995, the average price of MF Husain?s work was Rs 67.50 per sq cm. By 1999, it had gone up to Rs 73.82 per sq cm. This time it has risen 17 per cent to Rs 85.76 per sq cm. Clearly Husain maintains his hold, although even in this sale some works of his failed to sell as they appear to have been overpriced. Of the nine lots of his up for sale, only four sold.

Souza did better. Not only did all six lots of his works sell, but also his average price rose from Rs 31.55 per sq cm. in 1995 to Rs 66.78 per sq cm in 1998 to Rs 82.85 per sq cm for paintings and mixed media works of his. This too was expected. Souza, in my view, has been one of the more grossly undervalued artists as he was always the rebel and did not give a damn for the market. So, a rise of 24 per cent in the last three years shows him to be rising faster in price than Husain, whose marketing ability and network are probably the best in the country. The rise in price his work confirms our view that it is good to invest in.

Anjolie Ela Menon, a late entrant in the top league, has become a sort of cult figure among the fashionable. Her rise as an artist to invest in has nothing to do with her being fashionable at the moment. In 1995, her works sold at an average of Rs 77.08 per sq cm. By 1998, her average price per sq cm rose to Rs 87.19, a solid but not extraordinary rise in price. In the recent Saffronart auction, all five of the lots sold. That too was expected. But the average she has achieved of Rs 166.84 per sq cm is remarkable. It reflects both her investible value as well as the cult value.

We have seen this happen in the case of Ganesh Pyne, none of whose works sold in this auction. There were four up for sale, but again, the expectations were on the high side, with a jotting being priced at between Rs 1.25 lakh and Rs 1.75 lakh. In my view, even the minimum is overpriced by 15 per cent at least. Other artists whose works shared the same fate and for the same reason, were Bhupen Khakhar, Somenath Hore, Amrita Shergil and Manjit Bawa (only a drawing went for just over Rs 1 lakh).

Younger women artists such as Arpita Singh, Arpana Caur and Rekha Rodwittiya did much better as their works are definitely not overpriced. Of the five works up for sale, Arpita Singh sold three: A water-colour on paper, an oil on canvas and a reverse painting on acrylic. The first sold at Rs 92,208, the second at Rs 8,40,000 and the third at Rs 2.4 lakh.

This definitely reflects the entry of Arpita Singh into investible art, at over Rs 50 per sq cm. I am not all surprised that her visual lexicon (reverse painted on acrylic) sold at the highest price of Rs 59.58 per sq cm. Arpana Caur sold two of the three works up for sale, a beautiful drawing of a girl with dreams of travel, selling at Rs 19,200 and an oil on canvas at Rs 1,72,800. Rakha Rodwittiya too did well, selling a large paper work, ?Imagined Space? for Rs 1.20 lakh, and a large acrylic and oil on canvas for Rs 2.25 lakh.

I do not give much importance to individual sales. Indeed such as T Vaikuntam?s untitled oil on canvas selling at Rs 2.47 lakh makes news copy, but three other works put up for sale did not go. So one comes to the conclusion that they were seen to be overpriced at present. Vaikuntam is good investment despite this uneven showing.

The abstract artists did well. And this ought to bring cheer to a number of galleries. Two of the three abstract works of both VS Gaitonde and SH Raza sold, while Laxman Sreshta sold all three of his, one of them selling for Rs 6.48 lakh, which was still a little below the expected minimum.

However, serious buyers need not worry too much about fine tuning from auctions. A lot of the works are bought by those looking for decoration. So a number of really serious works can remain unsold. But then, one must also understand that many investors overprice their art as their expectations (often correct) are still ahead of the times. They will get the prices they want; but they will have to wait for them. We can say this as the artists whose works show a steady rise and who form the backbone of our contemporary investible art are rising in price even better than before. Saffronart, however, ought to be congratulated for blending the computer-bidding with a preview at the Taj in Mumbai. In art, more than in any other sort of buying, seeing is believing.