Selling fine art? (italian oil paintings)
jt
The single most important question is: who is the artist, and what have
comparable paintings of this artist sold for?
There are online sites that list such things. If your artist is not a
'listed artist', then the paintings are unlikely to sell.
Taura...@hotmail.com
(Igor23797) wrote:
>I have recently bought two quite nice looking Italian paintings, dated
>1940. They were made by the same painter and have similar content, although
>they are clearly different.
>
>I have not yet put them up on ebay, so this is not a solicitation for
>bids.
>
>What I would like to know is how to properly sell fine art on ebay. How
>to take pictures, whether I should try to locate information about the
>painter if possible, some other potential problems etc.
>
Well, I did a search for the artist on several web galleries. I
found nothing as to information for the artist or other works.
So, you have your work cut out for you.
If they set you back a few bucks ( say over $500 ) I would
have them appraised by an expert.
Then, probably turn them over to a auction house or maybe
have an art seller ( one of the better shops ) sell them on
comission.
I haven't ever sold "fine" art on ebay, but after the most
recent incident of fake/ripoff, I'm sure others would be
very "cautious" if they were to buy from an "unknown"
seller.
Good luck. ( No sarcasm intended )
Remove a "6" and the "1" to reply
Taura...@hotmail.com
(Igor23797) wrote:
>* Well, I did a search for the artist on several web galleries. I
>* found nothing as to information for the artist or other works.
>
>Thanks. Where did you look?
First go to www.hotbot.com enter "Italian painters" then search.
Looking for ( as you said the paintings were done in/around 1940)
artists who worked in that time. Found alot of sites, but nothing
that listed your artist.
>
>* So, you have your work cut out for you.
>*
>* If they set you back a few bucks ( say over $500 ) I would
>* have them appraised by an expert.
>
>Well, they did not set me back nearly as much, in fact, they cost me $10
>at a garage sale. I could as well say that in the auction.
Oh wow. I wouldn't. Let the buyers know I paid next to nothing? I'd
just let them look and bid. Giving them this information would more
the likely hurt sales then biuld them.
>
>* Then, probably turn them over to a auction house or maybe
>* have an art seller ( one of the better shops ) sell them on
>* comission.
>
>Aren't these "shops" mostly crooked? I thought that they have to be
>crooked to stay in business. (that is, the appraisals are intentionally
>biased, etc etc)
No, I wouldn't say they are crooked. But I would say they cater to
a clientel that doesn't "Know" what they are buying and let the
"expert" tell them what to buy.
>
>Anyway, how much does an appraisal cost? Is it worth anything? That is,
>if I say, Mr. Blah appraised the painting at $300, would that reassure
>a bidder?
Don't know what an apprisal costs. Call them up. They'll tell you
what you get and what it'll cost you.
Depends on many factors. The artist, documention, ability of the
expert and the buyers interest.
>
>* I haven't ever sold "fine" art on ebay, but after the most
>* recent incident of fake/ripoff, I'm sure others would be
>* very "cautious" if they were to buy from an "unknown"
>* seller.
>
>Understood.
>
>My thinking, currently, is to sell the paintings on ebay "as is", that is,
>to not try to represent any more than my current listing represents, and
>sell them based on their esthetic value, rather than on their "collector"
>or "speculator" value.
>
>I do not want to scam anyone, just represent well what I have. I have
>enough money from my main job anyway.
>
>The question, naturally, is, what their auction value will be under the
>circumstances. If it is going to be too low (below $100), I'll just
>keep the paintings for myself, since I like them a lot. That's why I
>bought them and not 98% of the other garage sale paintings. These are, by
>the way, genuine oil paintings on canvas, not on cardboard. They'll fit
>into a bigger house if/when we move from our current one. Right now only
>one fits.
Well, like it has been said. If the artist is unknown and seller is
also unknown. I wouldn't expect a major price result from the
sale.
If you're looking for more then $100. That's a nice thing ebay
does have. When you do list, then a reserve of $150 or so would
not hurt and you could say that in the listing.
But, I did look at the paintings. Not bad. But I'm more into old
west art and wouldn't even hazzard a guess at what those
painting would bring.
Your layout looks good, other then maybe a bit sharper on the
pics
>Thanks, anyway.
No problem. Let me know when you list them..I'm sort of curious.