You can live very well in Chemnitz and the region

Ansgar B. Heickmann

Whether valuable jewellery, porcelain, paintings, graphics, toys or modern art - Ansgar B. Heickmann puts everything under the hammer. He has been the man behind the auction house of the same name since 1994. It has been located on Zwickauer Straße opposite the Saxon Industrial Museum for three years. The bids no longer just come from the region, but from all over the world. This coming Saturday (21.11.15, from 10.00 a.m.), the auction house is hosting its 100th auction. That's why Ansgar B. Heickmann is today's Maker of the Week.

People have the preconception that auctions are only for the very rich. That's not true, is it?
Ansgar B. Heickmann: That's not true at all! You always read reports of top hammer prices in the millions for works by Gerhard Richter, Alberto Giacometti, Pablo Picasso and other well-known names. Modern art in particular is doing incredibly well at the moment. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. The hammer price for collectors and "normal" buyers of art and antiques is not usually reflected in the national media. But this group also buys for a much higher sum. Our auction house has always been organised according to the motto "from the people, for the people". For the first auction 23 years ago, the catalogue was a small booklet with just under 500 items; we are holding our 100th auction next Saturday with around 2,500 items. We have a huge proportion of items with a starting price of 20 to 40 euros, which are also sold for less than 100 euros. This shows that auctions are also something for the supposedly small purse.

What does the typical buyer look like?
The average customer who attends auctions is a collector who is really interested in an object because they have been collecting special items for many years. In addition, there are people who furnish their homes with art and antiques - after all, this is an excellent and above all individual alternative to the range offered by furniture stores and DIY centres. Mass-produced items can certainly also be beautiful and cosy - you don't have to live like in a museum - but it's the mix that makes it interesting! If more people could decide to make use of this exciting way of buying, we would have a much richer, more colourful interior in people's homes.
Many of the customers come from the region, within a radius of around eighty kilometres, and they are actually there on the day of the auction. Customers from Glauchau and Freiberg come by, bid and pick up their auctioned items. We also have customers worldwide. We send around 500 parcels everywhere after an auction. Worldwide means Russia, for example. Russia is picking up again after the slump brought about by the Crimea and Ukraine crisis. High-quality Meissen porcelain is doing particularly well there, with figurative pieces selling for four to five figures. We also sell to Canada, the Arabian Peninsula, Asia and, of course, a wide range of European countries. Our employees all speak good English and the business is no longer just regional. We are located in a somewhat remote region for Germany here in Saxony. But in the end, it doesn't matter where the art comes from and where it goes. People are discovering it, also and especially because of the Internet. The Internet is hugely important for us. And as an auction house, I always need at least two bidders so that the starting price rises, otherwise it's just a sale at the starting bid, and that's rather boring. Domestic and foreign customers bid live in the auction by telephone or let us know their bids in advance via the Internet.

The 100th auction is coming up. How many items have come under the hammer since you started?
At our four auctions a year, we offer a total of around 10,000 items, sometimes more, sometimes less. And we've been doing this for 23 years. If you add it all up, it's about a quarter of a million items. And we have a sales rate of around 70 per cent. So a lot has already gone over the counter.

The next obvious question is: what has been the highest winning bid so far?
As already mentioned, quite a lot of bids are still around 100 euros. This also shows that interested parties should not be afraid of the threshold. We get a lot of objects from the region. And there are few Picassos, the art collections won't part with a Schmidt-Rottluff either. (laughs) But ... the highest hammer price was a painting for 64,000 euros. In addition, two railway objects by Märklin from the 1920s from a private consignment were a real surprise. This example shows quite clearly why auctions have a right to exist. An elderly couple were not at all sure whether the two railway carriages were Märklin or not. Initially, they followed one of these "looking for/pay top prices" adverts, but no agreement was reached and the two pieces were rather bad-mouthed. With this uneasy feeling, they were recommended to us - and the two cars were auctioned for a total of 82,000 euros. That really leaves no questions unanswered. (laughs) It just happens from time to time. And these top prices were recognised throughout Germany at the time.

What was the most unusual item that came up for auction?
Well, really unusual ... (ponders). We have grown as a classic auction house that also serves the lower, very strongly the middle and occasionally the upper segment. Three months ago, we had a special auction of modern art for the first time. As it took place on the same day as our classic auction, there was a lot of people in the house who had no real connection to the newer items. And yet the special auction worked well, with two thirds of the items selling. These were unusual items for many of our regular customers, but it shows that the theme is being passed on to the next generation. Very special: there are always things whose value we were unable to research precisely until shortly before the editorial deadline due to a lack of time, and then the market recognises them anyway. It is therefore reassuring that almost nothing that arouses certain desires falls through. 23 years of market presence pay off after all.

How do you get hold of the objects? Do artists also offer them themselves?
In modern art, it is definitely artists or gallery owners who consign objects, but our focus is on antiques and old art. We get around sixty per cent through recommendations and our good reputation, which we have built up over the past few years. People keep asking me about the high prices that have been achieved in the bidding war from a low starting point. This is not forgotten. Carrying on our successes brings us subsequent consignments, sometimes many years later. And estates also come to us where the deceased bought from us 15 to 20 years ago and where the heirs then offer it to us again. We also advertise and use the internet. In between, I do a lot of travelling and am offered goods all over Germany and look at the properties, from Hamburg to Stuttgart.

How do you judge whether an object is genuine or really valuable?
That's a perfectly legitimate question. We have six art historians in our team. And believe it or not, they come to me regularly and we discuss things together. Because valuation is a matter of experience. If you've seen a lot, you get a feel for whether an antique statue, for example, is actually a historical find or a good replica from the historicism period. When in doubt, we also turn to museums and collections and have even had paintings x-rayed to confirm their authenticity. Nevertheless, the buyer also has a responsibility. We very much appreciate the expert discussion with the prospective buyer before the auction and we are also happy to provide advice.

You were born in Westphalia. When did you come to Chemnitz?
In an earlier interview, I once said flippantly, "Leipzig and Dresden were already full of auction houses, that's why I came to Chemnitz". And that's basically how it was. I've been here since 1993. Over the years, you build up relationships and networks, friendships develop. Chemnitz and the region are very good places to live, there is a very good cultural programme, you know the people. We have allowed the auction house to grow very solidly and slowly. Zwickauer Straße is our third location. The first location was a simple building on Annaberger Straße on the site of the Weigel spring factory. Those were the first tentative beginnings. Then we moved into a historic gymnasium in Paul-Gruner-Straße, which we liked very much but had to give up because it was too hidden in the long run. Now we've been here at Kappler Drehe for a good three years. The location, with its spacious showroom, café and everything that goes with it, has been very well received. People certainly enjoy coming to us because our auctions have a certain entertainment and experience value. The nice thing is that we have grown with our clientele and cater for the whole spectrum: the collector who has to save up the 100 or 200 euros from auction to auction. Our customer base includes many entrepreneurs and certainly some millionaires who are prepared to spend thousands. We neither limit nor exclude. That is important to us. When people sit next to each other at the auction, it's a question of feeling and mood. When the theatre is full, it's more interesting and the actors perform with even more enthusiasm than when the seats are empty. It's the same with us. We work to ensure that everything looks good and that people have fun during the viewing and the auction. Despite all the virtual support on the internet... we want to interact with people in person!

How has the city developed since then in the eyes of a newcomer?
Rapidly! The cityscape has of course changed a lot for the better. Today we sit at the foot of the Kaßberg opposite the Industrial Museum. Here you can clearly see what has been renovated and developed positively over the past 15 or 20 years. Of course, it is also clear that there is still stagnation in some areas. We don't have a property price development like in Dresden or Leipzig, it's staying at a healthy but slowly rising level. In my opinion, some problems, such as the gastronomy in the city centre, are also due to the structure of the city and the population. I am sure that there will be a change, but it won't happen overnight. In the long term, a diverse offering will revitalise the city centre and have an attractive effect. And the cultural offerings are great - we have an excellent theatre and a highly acclaimed opera house. Unfortunately, too few people take advantage of the outstanding programme. It's like us at the auction: there are a few guests who complain that they don't find enough (top) prices in our offer. But unfortunately, these are also the people who never buy one. It's just easier to criticise. And I'm still waiting for a Picasso. (smiles)

...And as always in this series: Do you have to encourage Chemnitzers?
(ponders briefly) No, you don't have to encourage the people of Chemnitz. They are brave enough. The saying that you earn the money in Chemnitz that you manage in Leipzig and spend in Dresden is well known. It's still true today. I realise that the people who earn good money in, with and for Chemnitz are now also confidently demonstrating this.
On the other hand, people have also realised that we need entrepreneurs and people in business and culture. Because they ensure that Chemnitz presents a positive image to the outside world. If we didn't have resourceful entrepreneurs or personalities like the director of the art collections, Mrs Mössinger, we would be mentioned less frequently in the national press. And that ultimately makes all Chemnitz residents proud of their city. The fact that people like to grumble from time to time is peculiar to the people here. But this is not the basic mood. Objectively speaking, we have little reason to complain. On the contrary, we could emphasise a lot of positive things. It is good that people are increasingly recognising that the success of the individual is linked to the success of the city and the region. This is not an end in itself, it benefits the city. Commitment costs time and money. Our auction house has one thing in common with many others in the greater Chemnitz area: we have grown slowly but steadily. You could say that we are perhaps not a selective "beacon", but rather a broad, secure foundation. Like Chemnitz for Saxony!