Selling an antique print

February 16, 2008 9:58 AM

What is the best way to sell a print that is worth a little money?

My wife and I bought a 1935 print at an estate sale for $40. We looked up the artist online and found the print going for around 1500 in various places around the net with prices as low as 500 and others greater than 2K. What would be the best way to sell this? eBay is an option but seems like it could be hit or miss. eBay is the ONLY way I know to sell it. Anyone have some guidance in selling this sort of thing?

posted by spartacusroosevelt to media & arts (3 comments total)

You could contact a gallery that handles the artist or the artists estate and see if they will sell it for you. They could give you a much better idea of what your particular print is worth also. It depends on the condition and the size of the edition. Is it a signed original? If you google the name of the artist a few galleries that represent the artist should also pop up. They will charge you a commission to sell it, but they probably have the contacts of collectors and can get you closer to top dollar than a random EBay posting might net you.
posted by 45moore45 at 10:10 AM on February 16

Your best bets are eBay or Artprice (you can also check out your artist and his recent prices there.) I would go with eBay as the audience your listing will enjoy is completely unrivalled anywhere else - your item should find it's value no problem.
posted by fire&wings at 12:58 PM on February 16

#1 lesson about art online. It doesn't matter what kind of prices you see for your artist on the net..... I'm an antique dealer. Most of the 40.00 "finds" I've had over the years have yielded the same results. A quick online search... a few places selling the same artists stuff at wonderful prices. A happy moment... I found something special....

One problem. Most of the sites selling the artwork are generally bullshit. Arbitrary, guessing, I have no idea where some of these sites come up with their prices. It like they pulled the numbers out of their asses.

if you really want to see what your artists work sells for, you can sign up for askart.com or artprice.com and see actual auction results for the artist. It works. I'm a member of both sites. The information has paid for itself many times over.

In my experience, Ebay isn't the best place to sell art.

Find a reputable auction house and send it to them.

If you need more help, email is in my profile.
posted by Bighappyfunhouse at 10:44 PM on February 16