Does anyone know anything about selling at auction? I have two paintings by an artist - cira 1777 - I have an appraisal from a guy here who suggested that I try a Canadian auction house since the artist is from Canada...long story short, how do I know I am at the best auction house? How can I know I am getting my best shot at making the most money? These painting have been in my family for 3- 4 generations and I don't want to 'give' them away.

That is gonna be a crap shoot unless you can get them into a truly notable auction house. Do some research and see if you can track down a hometown. Often some locals will have a good collection of that artists paintings and will be willing to shell out appropriately.

Another option is to find "art" towns or towns with a noted artistic community. Those places pay top dollar. I face this in my home town where art is dirt cheap and even the stuff that does sell for a fair price is Religious or Southwest. Yet take those same paintings to San Antonio or Dallas and the minimum asking price is multiplied at least x 10. seriously.

Do alot of research though......with art, it is very subjective and art to one is crap to another. IF the artist is deceased and has paintings either owned by notable museums or someone famous...these are great starting points and selling points.

Lets face it Monet, DeGasse, Warhol, Picasso, Van Gogh were no talent hacks but, one damned museum or millionaire buys a piece and suddenly they are vogue.

Really do some research but, dont be disheartened if initially you come up with nothing...paintings travel and it requires some effort to really get an understanding of the monetary values assigned to thier work.

Thanks Krupa, I had these appraised her at 4- 6 hundred a piece and so far the second Canadian auctioneer said he would do better than that.

I have goggled the artist and come up with nothing, apparently auctioneers pay to have info most of us aren't privi too because even the guy here found more on the artist in a few mins than I could, that is what makes this tricky....no info!

Meanwhile I am seriously considering selling to the highest bidder, art that until a few weeks ago we all thought were prints - not paintings!

I don't want to get 'taken' but if the artist died in the 1700's and these are starting to decay....get the money and run and let a pro keep them safe...is what I am thinking.

I understand that there are some collectors of his work in Canada, the first Canadian auction guy I contacted advised me of the second one....guess I have to just have some trust here.

Best of luck baby. Go ahead and get rid of them so they can be sealed or else they will devalue.

Can I bid on Fanadtic?

Oh wait, there is not enough money in the world..

Sorry, wrong thread.

LOLOLOL, good luck, hope Fanadtic reads this thread!

That's what I am thinking, also let someone who values them buy them and give me lots of $$$$$$ (not that I need it - LOLOLOLOL till I puke!)

Me too..lol

Be careful, there are predators around every corner... Grrrrr!
Don't get in any kind of hurry. When you do that you will lose.
When someone can do the research you can't do and turn around giving you a price higher then you've been offered rest assured you've got something worth much more...

I'd keep hitting it hard and heavy researching and talking to people till I found the right one to sell it to, keeping in mind "money talks and ******** walks".

if i were you and you really want to get rid of it look up the name all over the web and look for the paintings you have and what they are worth now if the person was famous then should be worth way more then few hundred but if its been in family that long i would keep them or at least 1 of them :) good luck hugssssss

Thanks for the hugsssss! These paintings have been in my family for generations (I seem to be the keeper of family stuff, I have table linens that came over on 'the boat' from Ireland) but they are beginning to disintegrate and I would rather sell them to someone who knows how to care/preserve them then just keep them and watch them turn to dust.

My web searches have turned up notta so I have to have some trust in the auctioneers in Canada.

So far I haven't heard back from the second auction house in Canada that the first one advised me to use....will email second house tomorrow.

Thanks all for the advise! xoxo A.