The year is coming to an end. Each year at this time I feel exactly like Santa Claus. In this business the holidays always bring special commissions with deadlines before the celebrations begin. That plus bouts of painting fever have delayed this month's essay. My wife and I returned from Italy and France a little more than a month ago now and the trip has inspired a number of paintings from my easel and given me one major piece to restore. You may see it in the gallery before long. Not that that has anything to do with this month's essay which concerns the seasonal custom of exchanging precious gifts, actually the concept of being precious. Being precious has quite a lot to do with Art, and even more to do with collecting. Nearly like defining a currency, each of us must define what to us is precious. There are certain commonly understood values that we all hold dear, family, health, faith, freedom, noble ideals. Yet many objects we esteem as precious also. We place value upon them for a number of reasons: because others openly value them and accept them in trade (currency), because of sentimentality, because they are rare or beautiful, because they defy duplication, because we sacrifice much to get them, because we identify with them, because they are enduring. If you consider these definitions I think you will agree that they do fairly well described by thosethose things we most seek. Infact, one would be hard pressed to consider anything precious without it meeting most of those criteria. Likewise Paintings and other objects of Art are fine; if they are educated and thoughtful, if they elicit sentiment, if they are rare and beautiful, if they defy duplication, and if we identify with them and they are enduring. Usually, therefore, you have to sacrifice a bit to get them. This of course is not always true. A good part, perhaps one of the best parts, of collecting is the potential for undiscovered treasure. However, works of Art, are in a big way one step above other precious objects in that they can and quite often do illuminate that which we admire most in these things. So, unlike the piece of gold which can be only gold, or the gem limited to being a stone, or even a child confined inside a single body, Art can show us the beauty and value in all things. Truly good Art is rare, certainly more rare than gold , which you see everyday. This rairity coupled with those qualities which make it good to begin with, beauty (design), durability, sensitivity, and defying duplication, is why we admire, preserve, and collect it . It's value in the long run never fails, age only adding to its importance.

Steve B. Lance