Sunday 26 November 2006

Secret Postcards Sale

The Royal College of Art's annual charity sale of secret postcards donated by the great and the good in the art world - now in its 13th year - has yet again raised a fair sum for its student award fund, which supports students with grants and bursaries. Artists paint a postcard and sign it on the back. Buyers don't get to see an artist's signature until they buy a card. Imagine the horror when you discover you've bought a Damien Hirst or a Tracey Emin! But this is part of the fun. Some of the artists play tricks by disguising their work. With about 2,500 postcards for sale at £35 each, this is nice little earner. It was supposed to last all weekend, but three quarters of the cards were sold by noon on Saturday! As I haven't a copy of any of the cards sold, I've illustrated this blog with a saucy seaside postcard from the most famous Brit. postcard painter of them all: Donald McGill. Click HERE to visit Chris Beetles' online gallery of McGill humour from the Michael Winner collection.

4 Comments:

At 1/12/06, Blogger weggis said...

Michael Winner???
Figures!

 
At 2/12/06, Blogger Unknown said...

I assume it's the same Winner who dresses in drag for those insurance commercials. Might not be, of course. His collection might not be as silly as it appears. Those old saucy postcards are fetching £1.500!

 
At 1/1/07, Blogger About Postcards said...

Yes it was that Winner. It's the original watercolour artwork that Winner sold, not the postcards which sadly fetch just a few pounds each. There was also a sale recently in Yorkshire where a collection of McGill original watercolours were fetching £1000+ versus pre sale estimates of £400. A wise investment for someone.

 
At 2/1/07, Blogger Unknown said...

Hi, Linda
Thanks for the information. The website where I found those £1500 prices didn't make it clear that it was McGill's original artwork that was for sale, not his postcards. For a few quid, his postcards sound like a good investment, especially if they make you smile.

 

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