How to Sell at Auction

Consider finding an appraiser to determine the value of your artwork. Appraisers are trained specialists who work for a fee. They evaluate your piece and give you a written statement of its value. Although the following organizations do not provide appraisals themselves, they each publish a directory of their members.

Use an image recognition app to identify the painting immediately.

1. The two most popular apps for recognizing artwork are Smartify and Magnus.
2. These apps only have access to paintings that have been well-documented and catalogued by curators, professors, historians, and other artists.

1. If you have researched your painting and are satisfied that it is reasonably valuable, then you need to approach an auction house. Search online for “antiques auction” or “antiques salesroom” in your city or area.
2. Ask if the saleroom specializes in paintings.

The best places to sell your artwork online to support your creative business.

• Etsy. You can’t talk about sites to sell artwork without mentioning Etsy.
• Amazon. These days, people buy just about everything on Amazon—and that includes art.
• FineArtAmerica.
• Saatchi Art.
• Shopify.
• TurningArt.
• Society6.

Prints are often seen as mass-produced copies of famous artworks that are just not that valuable or worth investing in. But nothing can be further from the truth. Prints can be just as valuable as any other artwork and certain prints are known to reach seven or eight-figure prices at auctions.

Prints have a clean straight edge, often created by the plate used to create the work. Looking at the surface of a painting with a magnifying glass is one of the best ways to spot a print. Often a high quality cell phone can take photos which reveal a great deal, especially when using different “filters”.

What Does it Mean That a Print is Numbered? This numbering system is usually indicated in the lower margin in the form of X/YY. When the second number, which is the size of the edition, is smaller, that print edition typically has far more value since fewer of those prints were produced.

A good place to start could be anywhere between 20-250, while some artists go as high as 500 prints. Again, it all depends on your collector-base and how in-demand your work really is. You may have to arrive at this number through good old fashioned trial and error.

Forged signatures are not uncommon among Picasso prints, especially in those cases in which a significant part of an edition is known to have remained unsigned in Picasso’s lifetime. The most important and prevalent example of this instance is The Vollard Suite.

Other Windberg originals start at around $2,000 (we found an image of a galleon sailing ship, 35 by 47 inches, at this price), but most tend to sell at auction on the secondary market in the $2,500 to $4,000 range.

In general, print runs of lithographs are kept low to preserve the value of each individual print. While a lithograph will rarely bring as much as the original artwork, they can be quite valuable even while being relatively more affordable.

What is the difference between a lithograph and a print?

1. Look for a signature. Hand-pulled lithographs will typically have a signature on the back while offset lithography prints and reproductions will not.
2. Use a magnifying glass to look for rows of dots.
3. Check for discoloration.
4. Carefully feel the thickness of the ink.

Lithographs will fade and discolor over time. Exposing lithographs to sunlight or UV rays can hasten deterioration too.

When it comes to how long the print will last, much is dependent upon the paper and inks used. Most should retain their quality for about 30 years but after that like any printed item, it may start to yellow and fade.

The difference between a lithograph and a print is that a lithograph is a hand made original copy whereas a print is normally a reproduction that is made via various printing methods.

The difference between lithograph and print is that lithography is the original artwork of an artist, which is done by oil and water, whereas print is a duplicate copy of documents done by machines.