Problems viewing videos?

voxant.com

WorthPoint is pleased to partner with our sister company, GoAntiques, to inform and educate people about the diverse world of antiques and collectibles. In this video, Jim Kamnikar talks with Dave Crockett of Artifacts Antiques about what sets a painting apart and what to look for to determine its value.

WorthPoint – Discover Your Hidden Wealth

Call this the Big-Bucks-Oops Department

As the VietnamNet Bridge, an English-language online news site, tells it, Vietnam discovered a ship about 10 years ago that had sunk between 1727 and 1735. Remains of its cargo included thousands of what-are-now antiques, some of them precious Chinese pottery.

So far so good. The Vietnamese provinces of Ca Mau and Binh Thuan got the go-ahead to sell the trove. So what do they do? Decide to auction 76,000 pieces at Sotheby’s in Holland, that’s what.

Now that all the figures have been added and subtracted, the decision doesn’t look like such a great idea. The auction brought in 3 million euros—that’s$4.4 million. Then the Dutch income tax was subtracted. Now we’re down to $3.7 million. And of course, there’s the 20% that goes to Sotheby’s, the fees for protection, maintenance, etc. In the end, the Vietnamese saw less than $1.5 million.

It’s felt that Vietnam could have held the auction on its own turf and would have pocketed a lot more money.

$1-million doorstop

Are you, by any chance, missing a Picasso or two? Maybe a Giacometti?

This might be good news then. A large stash of stolen art has been located reports The Guardian . This bizarre theft story unfolded after the death of one William M.V. Kingsland. (He claimed the M and V stood for Milliken and Vanderbilt.)

Kingsland died without a will, and it was ordered that his collection of 300 art pieces be sold at auction. That’s when things got strange. A representative from one of the assigned auction houses went to take inventory in Kingsland’s Upper East Side Manhattan apartment and found artwork crammed all over, even under the bed. A Giacometti sculpture valued at $1 million was serving as a doorstop.

A gallery owner, who bought a John Singleton Copley portrait for $85,000, decided to check its provenance and discovered it had been stolen from Harvard University.

Other pieces were checked and came up also stolen. Then it was found that Kingsland had been living a lie. In rubbing shoulders with New York blue bloods, he claimed to be a Harvard graduate, been married to French royalty, lived in a fancy Fifth Avenue apartment. He was, in fact, the son of Jewish refugees from Europe who lived in the Bronx, not exactly blue-blood territory.

The FBI is looking for the rightful owners of the purloined pieces.

And the winner is . . .

A beautifully restored 1938 Alfa Romeo. And the competition is . . . the 58th Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

As The New York Times notes, “owners don’t just take the muscle car they owned as a teenager and give it a shine” when they enter this crème-de la-crème event.

The Concours is definitely for serious collectors of classic cars who can afford authentic restoration. That’s authentic down to knowing that Phillips-head screws weren’t used before the 1930s, so they better not show up in a 1926 Rolls-Royce.

Restorers search out original brochures and manuals, photos of the car being manufactured, the tools that were used and pictures of the first owners. The more documentation the better because the judges want proof that the restoration was done accurately.

Oh, the owner of the winning Alfa? That would be Jon Shirley, who was the president and CEO of Microsoft. Guess he can afford having megapricey collectibles if anyone can.

The Krebs family settled in our area of Maryland in the 1700s. It has many members with quite a few successful farmers. Back in the 1970s, one of them operated an antiques shop and homemade ice-cream store. Such stores were few and far apart, and people drove as many as 50 miles for their banana splits, shakes and cones.

The wife of the antiques shop/ice-cream store owner was an amateur artist who painted landscapes that she would sell in the shop. Her paintings were good, and some of them were given an “old” look. They were displayed on a table with a sign identifying the wife as the artist.

One summer afternoon, one of the owner’s brothers stopped by and ordered a chocolate cone—three scoops, the ice cream was that good. While enjoying his treat, the brother wandered into the antiques shop to browse. He looked at the horse harnesses, bridles and halters that were used by farmers some 50 years back. He examined the old hand tools. All of a sudden, two very old paintings caught his attention. They were very well priced, and he knew he must have them in his parlor. Unbeknown to all concerned, the antiques shop clerk had removed the sign identifying the artist in order to dust the table and forgot to replace it.

The brother purchased the two paintings and proudly displayed them where he had envisioned them in his parlor. He showed all his visitors the paintings and gleefully told them how his brother had underpriced such quality art.

There came a time when the antiques owner and his wife visited the brother. The brother couldn’t help smirking about his good-quality old paintings and how cheaply he had gotten them. The dealer’s wife couldn’t help thanking her brother-in-law for buying and displaying her art in such a grand manner. After a bloody nose, peace was declared, and the paintings were returned to the dealer.

Nowadays, a Worthologist from WorthPoint can identify the value of paintings thereby eliminating the need to punch a relative.

– Jim Sturgill is a director of WorthPoint and founding partner of Sturgill & Associates LLP, a DC and Baltimore area CPA firm.

Maintain the Value of Your Art, Antiques, or Collectibles Business

Worthology Works Both Ways

Weak Dollar Crushes Antique Shop

Antiques, Art and Collectibles: Sell or Donate

Collecting Can Be Wise Investing

Tax Day: Mileage Pays

More Mileage Cents = More Dollars for Antiques & Collectibles

Antiques Shops Make More Money “Buying Right”

18 Things Worth Knowing about the Business of Antiques and Collectibles

Estate Planning—Antiques, Collectibles & Greed

Estate Planning: Stop Squabbling, Save the Family

Daryle Lambert’s 31 Club Blog

Did you ever spot a painting but kept on walking because you couldn’t find out who the artist was?

Sunday, at the Chicago Antique, I purchased a small oil painting in a wonderful gilded leaf frame for $120. Cindy asked if I knew the artist, and I told her I didn’t. She asked me why I bought it. Cindy isn’t afraid to ask questions because she wants to learn. I told her I bought it because it’s signed, so if I can figure out who the artist is, I might have found a treasure. Now, I didn’t buy just any signed painting. It was very well done, and it also had a wonderful gilded leaf frame that was worth more than I paid for the painting.

I also purchased a very nice signed watercolor that was also very well done. I couldn’t pass it up for $30. I researched the name on the Internet and have e-mailed the artist to verify that it is her work. If the e-mail comes back positive, it could make my month.

Did I start out looking for a $30 painting? Not at all. Truthfully, I had more like $5,000 on my mind, but this $30 painting could bring a couple thousand. That ain’t so bad, as this country boy would say.

Go to our Fine Art Gallery and look at the Paris Street Scene painting by Jean Faurege. It just sold for $5,000 because it has the quality of an Edouard Leon Cortes or an Antoine Blanchard. No, you won’t find Faurege in Davenport’s or on AskArt.com, but his work is outstanding. True collectors can appreciate it for what it is.

By the way, you did hear me correctly. This painting sold right here on our Marketplace for $5,000. This could have been your painting.

A 31 Club Member called yesterday to ask me about several paintings they spotted, of which only one had any interest. It was what she called a “couch painting.” But, after hearing her describe it, I knew that it should be purchased at about $50, and that had been the price that was in her mind to offer. At $50, she couldn’t go wrong. I’m hoping she acquired it because it might turn out to be a real find.

When you see a painting, you must judge the quality of the piece before you pass it by. No, you can’t pay $5,000 for an unidentified painting, but what about $100 or even $200. This may well be the best buy you make for a while.

The secret is to be able to examine an item and make a quick decision on what to do next. Time can quickly pass by and indecision will cost you money. Even an occasional mistake can be quickly overcome by correct decisions made quickly before someone else beats you out.

I have seen people pay hundreds of dollars for a potato that looks like some special person, knowing full well that the potato will shrivel up and rot after a short period of time. This makes me feel confident in buying items that I think are well worth the money, because I know they won’t shrivel away.

Thursday, I’ll be leaving for the Smokies for ten days, but I’ll have a cell phone and computer if you need me, and also Cindy will be there to serve your emails and calls.

Put a Turbo Charge on your Antique & Collectible Treasure Hunting Skills. Join Daryle Lambert’s 31 Club.

Get FREE MENTORING. Learn Inside the Industry Secrets that help you increase your profits. Then Learn to Grow Your Money Exponentially Buying and Selling only Antiques, Fine Art, and Collectibles with Daryle’s Strategic Business Plan. Our Members are Newbies to Seasoned Dealers, making more money than they thought possible. Join Daryle Lambert’s 31 Club, today.

My 220 page book, 31 Steps to Your Millions in Antiques & Collectibles is FREE with your membership. Join Today!

Check out the new Paintings and new items in our Gallery and Marketplace at Http://www.31corp.com/marketplace

Taking some of the mystery out of recognizing value in Fine Art Paintings is a topic I get many e-mails on. 31 Club Members call and e-mail me about wonderful paintings they’d like to buy, but the artist can’t be identified. Maybe there are only initials, a signature that can’t be read, or just simply a monogram with a figure on the painting. Perhaps the signature can be read, but the artist is not in the guides on paintings. People have often said to me, “I liked the painting, but I didn’t purchase it because I couldn’t identify it.” This could be a huge mistake.

If you judge a painting to be worth $400 because of the frame, the content, and quality of the work, and you can purchase it for about $100, then your decision is made. Even if the painting is not signed, you might not want to hesitate to purchase it. I have seen paintings in beautiful frames sell for $100, and after a little research, it was discovered that the frame was a Newcomb-Macklin frame worth up to $1,000. And this might be a real shocker: Some vintage frames have been known to bring over $100,000. And, unsigned paintings can still sell for thousands, as William shared with me when he saw an unsigned painting sell for over $5,000.

I have seen signatures appear after the painting had been cleaned and have found signatures hidden behind a frame. So, if you buy a painting for a few dollars and know that it’s worth more than four times what you paid for it, then it has met our rule for buying. Anything from there that enhances its value is only a plus.

I’ve accumulated many secrets over the past 45 years in this business and I’ve shared many of them them in my book. Today, I’ll share one of those secrets with you.

Did you know that, like authors who’ve written under pen names, artists also painted under alternate names? Did you know Leon Gaspard also painted under the name Leon Schulman and John Edward Castagno used the name Czako? Artists painted under alternate names, and they are listed in the back of American Signatures and Monograms by John Castagno. In the back of this book on signatures and monograms, you will also find the initials used by some of the greatest artists to ever decorate a canvas. If you find a painting signed with only initials, the identity of that artist might be discovered right here in this book. If you’re serious about finding valuable paintings, there might be a true treasure waiting for you because others didn’t have this information, but you did. Castagno’s books are very expensive, but if your interest lies in this area, his books will prove to be key tools for you. The link to the book is at then end of my Blog.

At a house I was called to about several items, I stumbled across a painting of an Indian Chief that looked to be unsigned. I asked what they were asking for it. The answer came quickly: $250. I thought that was a good price, but I asked if I could take it out of the frame. They agreed, and lo and behold, there was a signature behind the frame I didn’t recognize. I had just made a very serious mistake.

You see, the owner quickly asked if I would mind if they waited another day before they sold the painting. We had already settled on several other items I was purchasing, and I didn’t want to miss out on those items as well, but I said, “Sure” anyway.

That evening I quickly researched the painting and found that it was worth about $10,000. I called back the next day but they told me that their daughter really liked the painting, so they’ve decided it should stay in the family. You see, they had done their research after I left, also. So, remember this story, and keep this in mind: If you come to the conclusion that something should be purchased, stop trying to convince yourself further and simply buy it.

You may find that this approach will produce several paintings that will only return you a small profit, but by taking a risk, you might end up with a piece that will make your whole year or even more.

Join Daryle Lambert’s 31 Club, today. Put a Turbo Charge on your Antique & Collectible Treasure Hunting Skills. Get FREE MENTORING. Learn Inside the Industry Secrets that help you increase your profits. Continue to Grow Your Money Buying and Selling Antiques, Fine Art, and Collectibles with Daryle’s Strategic Business Plan. Our Members are Newbies to Seasoned Dealers who are making more money than they thought possible.

My 220 page book is FREE when you join.
http://store01.prostores.com/servlet/21incantiqueandcollectibles/Detail?no=1

LINK:

American Signatures & Monograms
http://www.amazon.com/American-Artists-II-Signatures-Monograms/dp/0810858959/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213354832&sr=

Daryle Lambert’s 31 Club Blog:

Today’s Photo: Lynn Bogue Hunt, “Blue-Fin Tuna” sold for $126,000 at Copley Fine Art Auction.

I’ve talked about the value of some fishing lures and their boxes in a past Blog at the main blog site at www.31corp.com as well as duck decoys and some that have sold for over $1,000,000. But, today I want to expose you to an area of the Fine Art Market that isn’t so closely followed, and that is hunting and fishing paintings – or sporting paintings.

These types of paintings are commanding higher and higher prices with each auction. It seems that the market simply can’t get enough of these paintings to satisfy the would be buyers. The great thing about sporting paintings is that they appeal to several markets, and these markets bid against each one another to purchase the better pieces. First you have the outdoor sportsmen that love the sport, and then there are the collectors of individual artist’s works. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the collectors who just like paintings of the great outdoors.

I could list some of the greatest artist in the world that have painted hunting and fishing scenes, but I thought I would share some with you that might not come to mind quickly.

Alexander Pope’s,”Hunters Still Life” sold for $187,000. Or how about the $143,750 a buyer paid at Cobb’s Auction for Philip Russell Goodwin’s, “Unexpected Game” in 2002. Let’s not leave out Lynn Bogue Hunt and his painting called “Bluefin Tuna” that crossed the auction block for $126,000, after having been estimated to bring in between $15,000-20,000. These artists aren’t household names, and you might run across one of their paintings some day. I did, and it was a painting by Frederick Morgan I sold for $115,000.

To my surprise, often watercolors in the hunting and fishing paintings seem to bring as much as the oils. Frank Benson’s watercolor “Gulls at Sea” brought $153,500, while Aiden Lassell Ripley’s watercolor painting titled “Rising Woodcocks” was hammered at $41,400. I think you will find that these are very favorable prices in the watercolor market.

Some have ask why I give examples of paintings that sell for so much money when they think their chances of ever finding a painting that will bring them the large bucks is unlikely. The reason is that I personally know so many people that have done just that, so why couldn’t it be you?

Don’t ever assume a picture on the wall is a print. Be sure to examine any hunting or fishing pictures very closely. Today there are so many watercolors in these fields that the supply is almost endless and these valuable watercolors can very easily be passed over as prints.

The hunters will soon be in the fields and the fishermen on the lakes, but the money is on peoples walls, so keep a keen eye out for these paintings.

If you like what you read here, there’s a world of information in my book, 31 Steps to Your Millions in Antiques & Collectibles. It’s available at my website www.31corp.com or through Amazon.com. You’ll get FREE MENTORING when you purchase the book, plus you’ll automatically become a member of the 31 Club. Come Learn and Build Wealth for your future with us.