help on pricing prison art furniture needed
DNMichi
I'm looking for someone with experience dealing in prison art, mostly small
furniture like smoking stands. I have a small desk, very elaborately carved and
painted and I am looking for pricing guidance....thanks for any assistance!
Dave
Esengo
hear a response to this question of Dave's. Is "prison art" similiar to tramp
art? Are the pieces signed? Does the reputation of the "artist" make the
piece more or less valuable? (i.e. a rocking chair by Charles Manson more or
less valuable than a smoking stand by Mike Tyson?) :-) Fayette
Kris Baker
ese...@aol.com (Esengo) wrote:
>Dave wrote:
>>I'm looking for someone with experience dealing in prison art,
>>mostly small furniture like smoking stands. I have a small desk,
>>very elaborately carved and painted and I am looking for pricing
>>guidance....thanks for any assistance!
>>Dave
Hi, Dave -
Is this piece older? (Do you know when it was produced?)
Nearly all prisons have "prison stores" where the inmates
sell their woodwork, hammered copper pictures, etc - and I'm
not sure if the pieces have any more resale value than any
other type of handicraft. Generally, the pieces I've seen are
similar in quality to high-school "shop" pieces - but that's
just my experience around here - we don't seem to get a
very high level of inmates <g>.
That said, it's possible that a well-made older piece, that is
marked (this piece IS marked with at least the prison name,
right?) may cause a collector to feel the pull of the
magnet. But I've not heard of this as a category of
collecting - maybe some else has? Normally, for something
to have good value, there needs to be a fairly large group
of collectors seeking out that category of item.
>I'm sorry I don't know anything about "prison art" but I sure would
like
>to hear a response to this question of Dave's. Is "prison art"
>similiar to tramp art? Are the pieces signed? Does the reputation
>of the "artist" make the piece more or less valuable? (i.e. a rocking
>chair by Charles Manson more or less valuable than a smoking
>stand by Mike Tyson?) :-) Fayette
Ha! Count on Fayette to make a good point and bring up an
interesting question.
The most famous criminal I can think of, offhand, who produced
items that DID sell for quite a bit was John Wayne Gacy (the
infamous killer of 40+ young men who buried the bodies in his
crawlspace until it became too crowded.) His specialty was
paintings of clowns (he was a part-time clown, in addition to
being a serial killer and, I believe, a building contractor of some
sort.) Some of his clown paintings sold for over $1000; I didn't
find them especially well-crafted, so it was a case of infamy
bringing out the buyers. Since his execution, I've not heard
so much about his "artwork." I'm trying to do an eBay search
right now, but it seems that I've picked a downtime.
Well...eBay is down for me; hopefully, I'll remember to do the
search later, or someone else can try. It'd be interesting to
see if there've been any eBay auctions of Gacy's artworks,
and what the results were.
Oh! I did get the "old search" to work -- there are five Gacy
items currently on eBay; two paintings with starting bids of
$250 and $350; no bidders at this time. (One's a painting
of Elvis!) But I'm more concerned with the results of completed
auctions, obviously and can't get that to work.
Kris
Smorgass Bored
Dave,
Oh,OUTSIDE of prison pricing... As with anything else (particularly
items on Antiques Roadshow) the price may fluctuate with the 'story'.
Since I have a copy (1st edition) of the book that Robert "The Birdman
of Alcatraz" Stroud wrote in his cell on Bird Diseases, I suggest that
we put MY book in YOUR desk and then make up a story about birds,prison
breaks,evil wardens and cellmates named Bubba and THEN ask $3000 for the
desk & book....... IMO
yeehaaaaa #91245,
Doug W.
~>*) Big Fish EAT Little Fish (*<~
DNMichi
Doug-
The story sounds like a natural, especially since there is a drawing of a BIRD
on this desk! Positively eerie, although I don't remember seeing Stroud
treating any pheasants in the film verion of his story. Please send your book
asap. Also, might we not get a better price if it were "signed" (hint, hint)?
We might even find a use for a label, (Carved by...using only a bird's
beak)....
Dave