ABOVE: Details from two works sold at last year’s Royal College of Art Mystery Sale. The one on the left turned out to be by Damien Hirst; the right painting was by Zandra Rhodes.

Art is an exclusive business: it takes money to collect it, it takes money to show it off in galleries and keep it maintained, it takes money to insure it. You, dear reader, will more likely than not never own a piece of work by a truly important artist. It’s just plain old economics—there’s not enough supply for the demand.

But for a good cause, even the loftiest artistic talents can be persuaded to sell something for £35. In this case, the good cause in question is the Royal College of Art’s Fine Art Student Award Fund. The RCA’s annual Secret Sale works thusly: a bunch of famous artists and a bunch of nobodies paint or draw on little blank postcards, and sign the back. The catch is, they won’t tell you who did which postcard. You’ll have to just pony up your 35 quid and hope you chose right. The Times reports that people line up for days to get inside in hopes of scooping a 3 x 5 slice of artistic genius. The show is viewable from Novebmer 18 to 24, and then the buying starts on the 25th.

LINK: The Times > Can you really buy a modern master for £35? The answer’s on a postcard