The scarce presence of Old master paintings in the extensive December catalogue of the Bilbao firm did not deny them the chance to sparkle and fetch some of the highest results in the 28th of December sale. Even more curious is the fact that those old master painting lots most valued and better attributed by the auction house failed to sell, while anonymous and school works with modest starting prices in between 1.000 and 2.000 euros were the main course of the day. 

Lot 239 belongs to this last group. From its iconograohy, The Last Supper, to the loose brushstroke and loosely sketched silhoutes of the figures, made it seem like it would sell for an unimportant sum. However the day of the sale its starting price of 1.500 euros skyrocketed until reaching the sum of 12.000 euros, making the oil on canvas one ofthe most treasured works in this December sale. 

After the bidding war, we were not few the ones to seek the hidden value in the work catalogued by the firm as Italian School seventeenth century. Among the names to be shuffled, Juan de Roelas, artist of Flemish origin active in Seville and Madrid during the first quarter of the seventeenth century, presents the most convincing case. Both the marked similarity of the lot with the work now in the parish church of Our Lady of the Conception in Calleja, Seville, as well as the technique and brushstroke it presents, point to the painter residing in Seville. Although it is still too soon to assign the work as certain, skeptics and unbelievers will not take long in recognizing similarities and remebering the painter's extraordinary evolution during his Spanish phase. 

Other lots of Old Master painting apperently uninteresting that ultimately provocked more than one bidder to raise his arm was the Holy Family attributed to the seventeenth century school, which with a starting price of 1.000 euros sold for 1.700 euros. In spite of theshort rise in the lot'ss price, thsi painting hides secrets unknown to many. Such as the fact that it is an exact version of two works that already surfaced in the market at Durán Auctions, the last of which jumped from a mere 600 euros to an impressive 36.000 euros, last year. Althought slightly smaller in size it is difficult to judge by photographs if it presents the same level of quality as the previous examples. 

Another field of interest was books and in this case we can firmly say that the house was excessively modest and conservative in its estimates assigning starting prices under 100 euros for rare works from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Four works specially bloomed under the hammer. These were:  Teathro Supremo de Minerua by Gonzalo Antonio Serrano which went from 50 euros to 450 euros,  Cirugía del Doctor Galvo, médico de Valencia published in 1647 which went from the unsignificant sum of 60 euros to the respectable figure of 900 euros, Ordenanzas generales de la armada naval. Tomo I y IIpublished in the year 1697 started in 90 euros and finally sold for 1.100 euros, lastly  Probanza de Hidalguia de Antonio Muñoz de Bueco y Galarza started at 90 euros and sold for 500 euros.

The conclusion we gather from these surprising results is that an important work is not always followed by an important bid, but also that if we pay attention the sales are filled with possibilities and opportunities in any collecting category. Let us wait and see what the coming year will bring. One thing is certain, the fall in demand is here to stay, all year long. Alfonso Carbajo Agrasar 

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