Personal shopper to the corrupt

People who find me browsing around at auction previews often ask one of two things: first, what I recommend they buy, and second, what I would buy for myself. For the Magnificent September Auction at Leon Gallery, my hands-down answer to both questions would be a luminous 1947 painting by Anita Magsaysay-Ho, depicting two women pounding rice on a knee-high wood mortar or “lusong,” which is said to be the origin of the placename “Luzon.” A pair of chicks in the foreground, by the feet of one maiden, feed on the few grains of rice that fell out of the mortar from the repeated rhythmic motion of the wooden pestles. Behind them, a third woman is winnowing rice. She pours the pounded rice from a tray, allowing wind and gravity to separate the husks from the grain.

I buy my rice from a supermarket, so looking beyond the artistic merits of this small but precious egg tempera painting, I get a romanticized view of rural life, simplicity, and innocence that is no more, in an age of floods, corruption scandals, and the chaos of daily life in Metro Manila. If I win the lotto jackpot or a DPWH contract for a ghost project, I could pay the P24,000,000-starting-price for peace and nostalgia. Gazing at a painting I can never own reminded me of the now-discredited Discayas parading their fleet of luxury cars to two gullible broadcast journalists on camera, grateful they had little or no taste. Instead of blue-chip art, they acquired ultraexpensive, tacky feng shui art—the public display of which eventually brought them the misfortune they truly deserve.

The coming auction has an unusual array of abstract modern sculptures: in steel by National Artist Arturo Luz, in brass by Eduardo Castrillo, and in glass by Ramon Orlina. There are the usual crowd-pleasers: Fernando Amorsolo, Fernando Zobel, and Juvenal Sanso, along with one jarring but important mural-sized work by Manuel Ocampo (no relation). As a Rizal scholar, I went to examine a first edition of “Noli Me Tangere” (Berlin, 1887).

The highest price ever paid for a first edition Noli was P7 million in 2014, the second time a copy was sold at public auction. Sales after 2014 were a disappointment to sellers, with prices going over P1 million, but always short of P7 million. The copy on the block this month is at P4 million, starting price, way beyond my pay grade. What makes this copy unique and desirable is Rizal’s handwritten dedication to his friend Dr. Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera. This is only the second time an autographed copy has come on the block. In 2004, an autographed copy sold for P500,000 during the auction celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Philippine Numismatic and Antiquarian Society. Half a million pesos was a windfall for the seller, who acquired the book online from eBay for only $40.

The hammer price would have gone up significantly if the seller had done some research or asked me. The catalog entry was a marvel of misinformation, like hallucinating artificial intelligence. It stated that the inscription was a farewell to “M.Boustead” (misidentified as Rizal’s girlfriend Nellie Boustead) and signed “El autor” (the author) rather than “Jose Rizal” to hide their secret love. When I saw the inscription, I realized “Dedica” (Dedicated) was misread as “Adieu” (Goodbye) it should read: “To Mrs. Boustead, [this book] is dedicated [by] the author.” Rizal had presented the book to Nelly’s mother! How the book ended up with an online seller in Edinburgh is another mystery.

Another intriguing item on the block is a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day Date wristwatch with reference number 1803 and serial number 1230179. It should be researched by horologists to pinpoint the year of manufacture and, if possible, the first owner. The watch and bracelet are in 18K yellow gold, too flashy for my taste, but on the case back carries the engraved signature of late president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. If further research and provenance align, then this is one of a dozen watches the former president gifted the so-called “Rolex 12” or the closest advisers or “disciples,” with whom he shared information on the imposition of martial law in September 1972 that changed the course of Philippine history.