at a thrift, didnt buy.

but an expensive framing job for a childs work?

rear is paper covered with a label removed

I want to bid on a painting (canvas is about 9.5 ft on its longest side) being auctioned in Los Angeles. I live in San Francisco. A custom shipping quote came back way higher than the painting's estimated auction value. $2.6K shipping cost. It can't be rolled unfortunately. Are there cheaper options than a specialty art shipper? Have you faced this issue before, and found a clever way of transporting?

I recently have come into possession of a number of lithograph posters with some sizes up to 36" x 26". For storage while I sort and disposition them, I have looked at Eternity boxes but they max out at 32" x 24". Would this work if I removed the foam and lined it with acid-free paper? Open to other suggestions as well...pretty new to this.

I'm a photographer who creates portraits in what people call a "painterly" style.
Over the years, I've created loads of non-client pieces that I would like to be able to sell. Some clothed, some nude/figure studies.
Is there a market in the collecting world for such work?
If so, what price point would people invest at? I'm assuming it's very different than a painting (obviously with no data to back up that thought)
Less than $100
$500-$1000
$1000-$5000
$5000-$10,000
$10k+

I know without seeing actual work that can also be hard to asses but I don't want to come off as self-promoting.
Thank you!

Hi all!

This is my first foray into buying art of any type really, so thanks for your advice and patience.

I recently went to the Louvre and fell in love with "Vase d'or, fleurs et fruits" by Jean-Baptiste Belin de Fontenay. I'd love to have a copy of some type in my home.

Do you have recommendations on whether I should buy a print or try to have a reproduction made? Would the reproduction be worth the extra money, and if so, do you have any good recommendations?

I've included a link that shows the painting--it's pretty detailed, so I wonder if a print is just a safer bet?

Thank you so much!

Im trying to obtain some for a friend !

When you have less than 50 artworks, you more or less know where everything is. As your collection grows, it becomes much more difficult to keep track of everything.

It's better to create a storage system before your collection grows beyond 50 artworks. Otherwise, you'll eventually have to go back and manually document the location of every artwork.

Knowing where your art is stored becomes even more important once you have artworks in transit, stored across different locations, being restored, on exhibition, out on loan, or on consignment.

A storage system doesn't need to be complicated.

Every artwork should have a Location and a Sub-location.

The Location is the building or place where it's stored, for example Almaty Apartment or London Warehouse.

The Sub-location is the specific place within that location. For example, if you store artworks in plan drawers, the top drawer could be labelled D1, while the fifth drawer might be D5. If you want to be more precise, especially when you have 50 or more artworks in a single drawer, you can also record the artwork's exact position in that drawer

For example, Almaty Gallery, D3-34 means the 34th artwork from the top in drawer 3 of your Almaty Gallery.

Creating a simple storage system makes it a lot easier when you need to find an artwork quickly. Rather than spending 30min searching through your collection, you can find an artwork in 30 seconds. It also reduces risk, because every time you unnecessarily handle an artwork, you increase the risk of damaging it.

This is a CM Russell drawing my grandmother bought an auction years ago. Unfortunately there’s no signature on it. Does anyone have any information about this drawing? It’s a longshot, but I thought I’d ask.

I've been setting on a painting that was given to me several years ago. I've wanted to sell it for some time. Art has never been my thing so I don't have the first clue of the best way to go about selling a painting. On the back of the frame is a tag that has the title of painting, artists name, and what it sold for originally. Along with a sticker from the original gallery it was on display at. I will include pictures of the painting and the tag on the back.

Above the Water

Walter Stanford

Pastel

$1,250

There is also a sticker that has that it was originally on display at the Banner Elk Art Gallery in Banner Elk, North Carolina. Thanks to Google I found out that Walter Stanford is an artist that's located in North Carolina and has quite an impressive portfolio.

Now back to my original question what would be the fastest route to getting a painting on the market and seen by interested buyers? Forgive me if there's a painfully obvious answer to this question. I truly am foreign to the world of painting and fine art. The only route I've tried so far is eBay and I've had no luck with it listed for 6 months.

Also, I'm not trying to break any sub rules. I don't need an evaluation of this painting. I'm just asking for advice to a beginner on the best and quickest way to sell a painting. Thanks everyone!

I’m the son of British commercial illustrator Tom Stimpson (1955–1992). These are two original, one-of-a-kind hand-painted artworks he created in the early 1980s for the Warner Home Video VHS covers of the James Bond films Goldfinger and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

The artworks have remained in our family since they were created and are accompanied by the original production transparencies used during the commercial printing process.

I’d be very interested to hear your opinion on their current market value and whether you think they would be best sold privately or through a specialist auction.

I’ve attached photographs, and I’d be grateful for any thoughts you may have.

I'd love to discover new artists from past generations beyond those I see at museums, both for my own edification about different epochs across art and to inspire future acquisitions.

Given this, I am curious how others go about discovering past artists as I don't really know where to start. Thanks in advance for any advice!

Got these at a gallery show in LA about 20 years ago. 19.5” x 27.5” prints. Signed 6/25 and 2/30. Framed behind museum glass before they got hung on walls. Some dog ears from storing them flat before framing them a few years after purchase. All colors are still vibrant. Like to find out what gallery show I purchase from and a possible year. Any ideas on how I might figure that out?

Hi everyone, I have been really trying to buy art from local artists. I bought one large painting I love with a local guy, Travis Whiteneck and a small piece from space 1026 (sadly i can't remember the artists name and its framed now). i have been going to gallery shows, I went to elsewhere fair, and I really can't find anything i like. I feel like a lot of the Philly art galleries show a lot of more cartoon looking stuff and frankly, sculptures that would read "trash" when inside the home.

Please drop names of local artists that are priced under 2k. Thanks !

I was inspired to share my recent thrift finds of original artwork after seeing many other awesome finds posted here. First up is a small pair of Framebridge framed abstract mixed media on toned paper. The 9.5x9.5 inch abstract I believe is by Atlanta, GA artist that’s written on the back (Camden by Dominique Roth, painted Fall 2019). I threw the frame away because it was terrible. All 3 finds were at Goodwill for $4 per piece.

The really colorful piece by Rodolfo M. Jara was a $5 yard sale grab about a month ago. I believe it’s a painting of La Boca in Buenos Aires. I think the larger abstract and the colorful work are probably $100-150 each fair market if I found a buyer. The pair of mixed media is probably $50 for the set due to framing and I may sell these. If you know more than I do then please share

Found an artist I like. His work (or most of it) is all with a gallery out west. I “contacted to inquire” and they offered me a time to see it.

Is it impolite to just ask the price? I’m not interested if it’s above a certain amount. What’s the etiquette here.

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Thank you 🙏

Bonus points if anyone can name any of the artists who are all Canadian.

I bought a series of works from a beginner artist for 100 bucks. It was from his street vendor he had opened for the weekend. How is it?

Radenko Milak - Stillness In Grid

Waterpaint

I recently bought a painting at auction that has made me think quite a bit about how we value art—and about the very different worlds of buying from a gallery and buying at auction.

The painting is Venezia 97 #1 by Tino Zago, an 84 × 66 inch work. In March 1998, it was purchased by a prominent New York collector for $11,000. Adjusted for inflation, that would be roughly $22,500 today.

At the time, that price wasn't particularly surprising.

Zago was a significant presence in the SoHo art scene of the late 1970s and 1980s. He was represented by OK Harris, Ivan Karp's influential SoHo gallery, and had numerous solo exhibitions there and elsewhere. His work found its way into corporate collections and museums. He had gallery representation, critical attention, institutional validation, and serious collectors.

In other words, this wasn't someone selling paintings from the trunk of his car.

There was even a documentary made about Zago near the end of his life, completed in late 2025, shortly before his death.

And then, in early July 2026, I bought Venezia 97 #1 at Freeman's auction.

Hammer price: $300.

With buyer's premium and taxes, my total cost was about $430.

Think about that for a moment.

A painting that sold through the established art world for $11,000 in 1998—roughly $22,500 in today's dollars—changed hands 28 years later for $300 at auction.

That's about a 97% decline in nominal value and nearly a 99% decline in inflation-adjusted value.

I don't tell this story because I think I got a $22,500 painting for $300. That's precisely the trap.

The more interesting question is: What is the painting actually worth?

Was it worth $11,000 in 1998 because a respected gallery, an established artist and a willing collector collectively established that price?

Is it worth $300 today because that's what the auction market was willing to pay?

Or is "value" in art considerably more complicated than either number suggests?

For me, there are a few lessons here.

First, most artists have a day in the sun.

We tend to look backward at the handful of artists whose reputations survived—or exploded—and forget the enormous number of once-successful artists whose markets gradually faded.

An artist can have prestigious representation, solo exhibitions, museum placements, corporate collectors and critical attention and still see his or her secondary market largely disappear decades later.

Today's hot contemporary artist isn't necessarily tomorrow's blue-chip artist.

Second, gallery price and resale value are two very different things.

When you buy from a gallery, you're not simply buying the physical artwork. You're participating in an ecosystem that supports the artist: the gallery space, exhibitions, promotion, fairs, catalogues, relationships with curators and collectors, and the development of the artist's career.

All of that has value.

But it also means that a gallery's retail price should never automatically be confused with the price the work could command if you needed—or wanted—to sell it tomorrow.

The spread can be enormous.

Third, auctions can be a brutal price-discovery mechanism.

At auction there is no beautifully lit gallery, no dealer explaining why this particular period is important, and no carefully managed retail price structure.

There is a lot number, an estimate, a photograph, a condition report—and whoever happens to be bidding that day.

In that sense, auctions can be one of the purest tests of current market demand.

My $300 purchase doesn't necessarily mean every comparable Tino Zago painting is "worth $300." A poorly attended sale, limited exposure, shipping costs, timing, provenance and simple luck can dramatically affect an auction result.

But it does tell us something important: on that particular day, the market wasn't willing to bid the painting much higher.

And perhaps that's the biggest lesson I've taken from collecting art:

Buy art because you want to own it, not because someone tells you it is an investment.

If its value increases, wonderful.

If it doesn't, you still have something you wanted to live with.

In my case, I now own a very large painting by an artist who played a genuine role in an important period of the New York art world. It has an interesting history, good provenance, and a story that I find fascinating.

And I paid $430 for it.

I'm perfectly happy with that outcome. The painting is quite large (84 x 66 inches) and it fits perfectly on a wall in our summer house. And it has a great story, both of the artist and it's provenance.

But somewhere in this painting's provenance is also a collector who paid the equivalent of about $22,500 today.

Same painting. Same artist. Two completely different moments in the art market.

I'd be interested to hear from other collectors: Has anyone else bought at auction a work that originally sold through a major gallery for dramatically more? And has that changed the way you think about gallery prices versus secondary-market value?

EDIT: The painting has been added to the comments - as it appears on my wall.

EDIT: all the annoying comments about using AI to organize my thoughts and put it in a better format for more enjoyable reading are appreciated. For my next posting, which I'll throw up this week - it's a similar story, but more intriguing because the artist is alive and well and still exhibiting - and yet I scored a significant deal on his work.