Selling a single piece of fine art

Factual Questions
1

Many years ago I inherited an original contemporary fine art piece by a famous artist. That artist has just recently died, presumably increasing the value of his works. I have no attachment to the painting and would love to sell it, but have no idea how to go about it. Looking at Google shows a huge variety of values for this artist’s work, with pricing coming from galleries, auction houses, and individuals. I worry that getting it professionally appraised might not be worth it but then again, it just might!

But I have no knowledge at all about whom to call or whom to trust. Auction houses seem only to be interested in whole estates, and I don’t know how selling to a gallery would work. Anyone have insight into this world?

Thanks!

2

If there’s a gallery that specializes in that artist’s work, that would be a good place to start. Otherwise, just contact one of the major auction houses (Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Bonhams, etc).

3

I don’t think it’s true that the big-name auction houses are interested only in whole estates. They do have auctions where an entire estate is sold, that’s true, but you can commission them to sell an individual piece. Unless the piece is truly exceptional, they will most likely put it into an auction where similar pieces are sold, but they don’t insist on you bringing enough items to fill an auction all by yourself.

4

I know it’s difficult to guess but how valuable do you think the painting may be? $500, $5000, $50k? I’d start by contacting local galleries and appraisers to get some idea of what you’ve got. If it’s indeed thought to be by well known artist, the attribution will help them set a value. However, there are WIDE variations in expertise among people in the industry.

If it’s more than a few thousand dollars, you’ll get the most value by doing your own research into the artist’s body of work. For example, very early works by famous artists are frequently more rare but less valuable than those from the artist’s more characteristic style period. An artist known for painting valuable nautical scenes may have also painted some comparatively less collectable landscapes or portraits. The market matters, too. An auction for that sailing ship scene will likely fetch a better price in New England than in Houston. This kind of research can help you know what kind of gallery or auction house to approach and what a reasonable figure might be.

If it’s worth more than a few tens of thousands, you may wish to have it authenticated. This probably won’t include a value and a good authentication sets you back a few bucks but the word of a trusted expert will boost the sale price. Artists with very, very valuable bodies of work (household names, museum artifacts) often have a foundation or other official group that serves as the final word as to the authenticity of a piece.

5

Thanks for the good advice. There is a gallery managing the artist’s estate. I sent them a picture of both the painting and the signature to ask if they are interested. That is the only outreach I’ve done so far.

This isn’t a hugely valuable piece but I do know it’s authentic. It’s signed and dated by the artist as a gift to my parents. But he was very prolific and there probably many of pieces from this period out there. On another gallery’s website I see a similar item from the same artist and period on sale now for $7K, but the same exact painting is also being sold via Artsy for $10K. That link seems to point back to the gallery offering it for $7K. Weird, weird, weird.

I think if I can get $5K for this I’d be quite pleased. Or perhaps I should hold on to it until the artist has been dead a few more years?

6

From what I’ve seen on Antiques Roadshow, that the painting was a gift from the artist to your parents might increase its value. (Do you have any letters from the artist, perhaps one that talks about the piece?) But if similar or identical paintings are already out there, that would tend to reduce its value.

7

The artist was a neighbor when I was little and I still am connected with his daughter on Facebook. It’s a unique item, which is a plus, but there certainly are similar pieces on the market. The artist was 98 when he died so there is a LOT of his art in the world. Poking around on auction sites I see at least one other item from the artist on sale that was gift to someone else, so I’m not alone in doing this. :slight_smile:

ETA: Artsy.net lets individuals submit photos of artwork for their experts to provide guidance, so I’ve done that. Will be interesting to see what they say!

8

Another idea; check if the Antiques Roadshow is visiting your city anytime soon. I think thousands of people show up to get their stuff valued, so the odds are against you. But the story of the artist neighbor might be enough to get you on the show.

9

If the retail price of a piece of art is in the $7k-$10k range, how much would an individual expect to get for it if they tried to sell it themselves?

10

You have to enter a lottery to get tickets. Here are the cities for this year and the lottery information:

11

We recently sold a piece of art from my mother’s estate, using the help of an appraiser who put it up to auction. It sold for $5,500 and we recently got a check for our cut, which was $4,317.50.

Auctions are a crap shoot. That piece was appraised for $8000-$12000. We also sold a set of silverware that was appraised at $4000-$6000 for $9000. (Our cut was $7,065)

12

Well, it’s not exactly antique since it dates from 1969. And I have no desire whatsoever to be on any show. :laughing:

@filmore That is precisely the question. And how much might I expect to get if I sold it to a gallery?

13

If you sell through an auction house you’ll have to wear the cost of getting the art to them in good safe condition. That itself is not necessarily cheap - if its fragile framed art it will need a courier. Depending on the way they do things they’ll take a % or pro rata commission from the final sale price. If it doesn’t sell then there are usually standard arrangements for how they deal with it - it will probably show up a few times in later auctions, maybe with a return at your cost provision if they can’t move it.

Every auction house will have a general terms of sale contract that you will need to sign before they do anything. It will be on their website or they will be happy to send it to you. Signing it is the starting point for them having an interest - but, unless you’re selling a good Picasso, they will not waste time wanting to vary those standard terms. In that sense its their show and they will call the shots. And at the auction you get what you get - its in their interest to find people interested in buying, provide trust about the identification of the item and security of the transaction.

Will you get more if you sell it yourself? With lots of the artist’s work around, do you know a way to reach the presumably very small pool of people on Earth who might be interested in yet another example of his work? If you reach just one, then will you pay what they offer? What if they offer you $500 - take it or leave it? You need at least two competing buyers to move the price above what any one might want to pay - its a buyer’s market. Can you even find two people with a lazy $7K in their pockets, both interested at the same time?

The other things that affects what people will want to pay is risk. I buy from auction houses because there is some comeback if something is not as described, but I don’t know you on EBay or a sale ad. You could be any sort of scam artist, and I will factor that risk into my opinion, and eventual offer of $100.

Also, be wary of confusing price you can achieve with the price tag someone else has on a similar piece. Q. Why is it on sale? A. Because no one’s buying that one at that price, so why should they buy yours? Gallery price will have their overhead and commission on what you get - that’s whatever. Half the sale price?

Final option - don’t sell it but make it a family heirloom. Most of its worth will be in sentiment, esp. if its a piece of genre art [what it sounds like]. That stuff does not hold its value longer term, so you won’t make your grandkids rich, but it may retain family memory.

My pick - auction house with a specialty in art. Spend money to minimise your risk - courier, conservation treatment or professional cleaning. Think of a realistic number then halve it.

14

Do you have an art museum in your area, or even a college with an art program? Contact them and go from there.

15

Thank you so much, this is really interesting and helpful! Once I have an idea of what I might be able to get for it I’ll decide how to proceed. BTW it’s not genre art, but an early work from a highly regarded artist famed for his nudes. It doesn’t have sentimental value and I don’t particularly want to display it. But if it is likely to appreciate over time I might just want to hold on to it for a while.

16

Again, from watching the Antiques Roadshow, artists and types of art go in and out of style, so it’s not a simple matter of the value increasing over time. Sometimes, as things become less fashionable, the value actually drops.

17

Last episode of AR some guy had a painting from about the same period. It was appraised in the $300,000 range. The artist was very well known and had some of his works sell for over a million dollars.

18

The library I volunteer at was gifted an original landscape with the tags on the wire hanger. It was from 1968, and the person had paid $500 for it.

When I took it to our auctioneer, along with a lot of vintage and other items we couldn’t sell otherwise, he said that we’d be lucky to get $100 for it. And we did, and it was 100% profit which I had to explain to the program director.

19

Yes, my mother had a lot of paintings from an artist who was popular with her generation. Covid knocked the price of those paintings way down, as it killed off the generation of people who valued them. I sold a bunch of them as a lot to someone who wanted to sell them individually, and i happened to see what they went for at auction, as they were in the same auction as some of our stuff. The professional lost money buying them from me, they had dropped so much in value.

20

I think I speak for all of us when I say that we desperately need to see a picture of the piece and know who painted it! Spill the tea!