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HOW TO IDENTIFY FAKE OIL PAINTINGS & STOP WASTING MONEY



Hi there,

My name is Philip Norman and some of you may have heaard of me before - in a different life. But this page is a about my secret passion and it is the life that I enjoy the most. I do hope that you will want to shaare my passion. And if you want to talk about things then e-mail me with whatever you want to say. The best way to find us is click on COMMUNITY, then FIND A MEMBER, enter NEWTRICKS2010 and I will be there waiting for you.....

Thank You.

For good reasons and bad we have had to change our principal e-bay marketing platform. Our new venue is called NEWTRICKS2010 or just search for any of the key words shown below where you will be able to inexpensively acquire electronic books (CD's) books on OIL PAINTING RESTORATION, MAKING AND REPAIRING GRAND AND GLORIOUS PICTURE FRAMES, FAKE PAINTINGS - IDENTIFY OR CREATE THEM ?!?!?, OUR OWN COMMENTARY ON KEATING - THE GREAT ENGLISH FAKER, MODERN AND TRADITIONAL GILDING TECNIQUES AND A BARGAIN BUNDLE THAT INCLUDES ALL OF OUR TITLES.

Oil paintings, water colours, acrylics, drawings both ancient and modern are all capable of being copied.
The best way to recognize them is to learn how they are made. Our 1,300 page book on this subject complete with many color photographs is a unique publication and a world first.


 This picture hangs in my own lounge and is just under two meters long and in the book you will discover just how this type of production was made. It cost me £35 to make and I have been offered over £3,000 but, of course, if I sold it then I would be in serious trouble. But if the buyer had read the book then he would never have made the offer......................

There is now way of guaranteeing that any picture is genuine unless you have some real knowledge of the subject but you can minimize the risks to a certain valuable extent.

LET THE BUYER BEWARE. E-Bay auctions are no different from any other auctions.

Auctions are like any other market place but knowledge is strength!

There are many theoretical publications available that purport to offer help but few are written from a practical point of view and even fewer that are written by poachers turned game keepers - like our selves.

If you do make a mistake and there is no one to help you then there is one consolation and that is that if you feel that you were inadvertently mislead without redress then you can always sell it in a local auction. There is nothing untoward about this practice in that, even professionals get caught out and this procedure is accepted as being "all part of the game" - and the game is called "PASS THE PARCEL".

But here are a few tips which should help, -
  1. Obviously do be careful of vendors with no track record and try to deal only with established dealers with a good feed back record.
  2. Always look at the vendor's other pictures - particularly the backs ! If they all look similar then this could be a bad sign. Pictures are like people in that they are all mostly significantly different.
  3. Consider the price being asked ! If the painting is important then it probably deserves to be in Southeby's or another major auction house.
  4. Remember that you generally get what you pay for in this life and there are few genuine bargains.
  5. Look at the other bidders; after all it has been known for small circles of friends to help each other and it could be a bad place for strangers to do business.
  6. Spelling and grammar can be important (but not here of course). If the vendor is illiterate then it could be genuine but it may be a more insidious indication. (Unless the vendor is foreign).
  7. Check the signature. There are web sites that give this information freely. The writer has recently seen an offer at £3,000 where the picture included a signature that was obviously wrong.
  8. The most important advice that I can give in this small guide is to ask questions but try to ask obtuse rather than straight forward ones.
  9. Although, in another guide, it is stated that signatures do not appear before a certain date many artists used monograms and the use of these goes right back to the 14th century and even earlier.
  10. One vendor has been sighted offering a 17th century work of art painted on plywood which was only invented in the 19th century.
  11. Watch out for low "BUY IT NOW" item prices with high postage and insurance that will only refund the item price in the event of a refund being demanded.
  12. Beware of miniature or other small paintings where there is a multitude of obvious brush marks. In real life artists go to great trouble in avoiding this and so why are the brush marks so apparent? Is it to trap the unwary into believing that this is a true "painting”?
  13. Visit the art galleries and imbue yourself with as many impressions as you are able in order to gird your loins for the coming fray.
  14. Watch out for phony cracks in paintings. Cracks do appear but mostly where you do not want them and if they only appear in the corners or at the edges then be careful.
  15. Consider the condition of the canvas used. I have seen very old paintings in pristine condition which is rare outside of an art gallery. Most pictures spend their lives in pride of place over the mantelpiece in the days when smoky fire grates were common.
  16. Consider the stretchers which support the canvas. Does the wood really look old or do they look as though they have been deliberately aged?
  17. Consider the picture frame. The Chinese are offering excellent ranges of inexpensive frames but most are readily identifiable and so have a look at a few web sites to get the feel for their designs. Beware of small triangular plywood fillets which reinforce the corners. Only the Chinese do this as part of their mass production manufacture.
  18. Consider the corners of the stretchers. Are they mitred or butt jointed? The fillets of thin wood used to actual adjust the stretch on the canvas may have an impossible job if the corner joints are inappropriate.
  19. Look at the back of the painting and remember that dust falls and the bottom stretcher should be dirtier than the others.
  20. Ask yourself why there is any dust at all on the back? Most people clean their valuables before offering them for sale. (But, of course, a very few do not).
  21. Does the vendor really know what he is talking about? Does he confuse gesso with plaster or composition with wood carving or even gilt with gold leaf?
These are only a few of the points which the unwary should heed and for further guidance I must refer you elsewhere although unfortunately I am not allowed to say exactly where but the more astute amongst you will probably realize the obvious!


 

ART MARKET TIPS FOR CONSIGNING ART


Q: I inherited several old paintings that I'd like to sell, but I know little about the art market. I was thinking about maybe selling them to a gallery for cash, but a friend suggested that I could make more money by consigning them. He said that if I consign them, I don't get paid until they sell, but I get more money when they do. Will I make more money by consigning the paintings and, if so, what do I need to know about consigning?

A: The major advantage to consigning art is that you almost always make more money when it sells than you do by selling it outright. The major disadvantage to consigning art is that you only make money when it sells. When it fails to sell, you make nothing. This means that if you consign your paintings, you have to be reasonably sure that they'll sell within a reasonable period of time. In other words, you have to figure out how strong the market for each individual artist is. The stronger the market, the better the chances the art will sell, and the more viable consignment become.

Since galleries don't invest operating capital in consigned art, they can afford to offer it at higher prices and wait for the right buyers to come along. They don't have to try and buy it for as little as possible, or be forced to turn it at wholesale prices in order to recoup what they paid for it. In dollars and cents terms, when you sell outright to a dealer, you rarely net more than 50 percent of retail. When you consign to a dealer, you can net as much as 80 percent or more of retail (assuming the market for the arist is strong and the art is highly desirable and easy to sell), but usually more like 60 to 70 percent under normal circumstances.

The downside of consigning is that a gallery is under no pressure to sell your art since they have no money invested in it. And a weak artist market doesn't help matters any. At worst, they may keep it for months or even years with no results, and end up returning it to you overexposed and even less salable than it was to begin with. You'll be forced to start selling all over again, often for substantially less money than you had originally hoped to sell for. Your job is to find a dealer who will sell your paintings and pay you the full amount agreed upon, all in a timely fashion. The following pointers will help assure successful outcomes when selling art on consignment.

* The more collectible your art, the more you should consider the consignment option. Highly collectible art sells fast, galleries will want to sell it for you, and they'll make attractive offers in order to represent it.
* Work with a gallery that has experience selling art and artists similar to yours. Ask to see similar art currently in stock, and also to see records of pieces that they've already sold, including selling prices.
* Look for indications that the gallery has a high probability of selling your paintings within a set period of time, and that you'll get paid in full within thirty to sixty days after that sale takes place. The closer this approaches a guarantee, the better.
* Make your consignment agreement for a reasonable period of time, usually six months to a year. Some galleries may ask for as long as two years, but this is uncommon and they should present good reasons for needing the extra time.
* Make sure your paintings are offered at fair prices, you know what those prices are, and that the gallery posts those prices for all to see. Have the gallery explain why the agreed upon prices are fair and reasonable.
* Occasionally, a gallery will offer, as part of a consignment agreement, to buy your art for cash if it fails to sell after a certain period of time. Be careful here because the gallery may be using attractive consignment offers to gain control of your art, put little or no effort into selling it, and then buy it cheaply at a later date because they're having trouble selling it.
* Avoid working with galleries that lack experience selling art similar to yours, no matter what terms they offer. 

Some galleries appeal to the greed instinct by offering to take consignments at ridiculously high prices and netting you more than any competing galleries. They rarely sell the art, but they don't care. All they want is good looking art hanging on their walls absolutely free of charge (at your expense). It makes their galleries as well as their other art look better. Or they want to experiment with your art to see whether they can sell it or attract new clients. They know they're under no obligation and that they can always return your art if they can't sell it. You're the big loser here.
***
A caution regarding certain of the more commercial galleries-- some galleries try to sell you art with the promise that all you have to do if you ever want to sell is bring it back to the gallery and they'll sell it for you on consignment. This is particularly true with higher profile galleries selling art by name artists like Dali, Chagall, Boulanger, Miro, Kinkade, Neiman, and Max. Avoid doing business with any galleries that present their art as commodities that can be returned and/or resold at any time, supposedly at a profit. This is not the way the art market works.

Commercial galleries that offer to take your art back at later dates if you buy it now make those offers knowing full well that they make no cash outlay if you ever decide to take them at their words. They also know they're under no pressure or obligation to sell it, and they often make no effort to sell it. If they do take it back, they often keep it indefinitely or until you ask to have it back, and then tell you that they tried to sell it, but could find no willing buyers. The bottom line here-- if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

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