Good Paintings under $50.00

There has been a lot of discussion about paintings and what makes them good and a good value. Here are some paintings I bought for under $50.00. All are by listed artists and represent good value in my opinion. Each may not fit everyone's taste but I think they are pretty good investment quality art. I have sold every one of these at profit, so someone else must have thought them good. Profit mark-ups range from 300% to over 2000% These were sold on ebay unless noted otherwise.

This is by German/American Gerhard Meyer. Bought on ebay.


By Danish artist Knud Bostrup. Also bought on ebay.


Watercolor by Arizona artist Paul Coze. Bought locally.


Iowa artist William Farmer. Bought locally and sold locally.


Indiana artist Hazyl Fowler. Bought locally and sold on ebay.


Czech/American artist Jana (Hana) Hladikova- Bernkopfova. Bought locally.


Watercolor by South Carolina artists Margaret Hall Hoybach. Bought locally.


This is just a taste. I post these to show what is out there if you do a little digging. As you can see, some of these were bought on ebay cheaply and later turned for good profit. I credit some of this to being a good sleuth and researcher. Having good presentation also helps.

Have at them and discuss whether these are good or bad. In no way will you hurt my feelings if you rip them apart. I really think I sold some of these too cheaply but, given what I paid, I am happy for the profit. Can't say I miss any of them except maybe the first one. Even that is just a slight pang ...... LOL! If people are interested in seeing more, I can post them.

If anyone else has good examples you can post them here as well.

 

I love the Fowler,Farmer and Coze.

 

I like them all but I really like the Hana and Farmer.

It just seems like there's so many landscape paintings that look the same.

Floral art, it depends greatly.

 

I am partial to the Hana, and then the magnolia. Thanks for showing and telling.

 

I don't know if you had seen these on the finds thread but I'll post them here. All these are from listed artists in Savannah and S. Carolina. I bought all these for around $25 each. I'm pretty sure if I sold these, I could easily get those profit margins you have above. For example, the light house painting has a gallery price of $1,600. I'm sure I can sell it for atleast a few hundred, if not more.

 

Verybrad, the Coze painting has the greatest appeal to me, but the others you posted certainly aren't off-putting.

 

Glad to see that you are not equating gallery price with resale value. Paintings a re a lot like cars, losing most their value once they leave the showroom ....

Who are the artists? I can see how the first one could be appealing to many people. I actually like the big bird close-up and the leaf painting the best. I think the other 4 are pretty ho-hum.

 

The first one is from Mary Ann Kim. The rest are from Jeffery Day of S. Carolina. Day is moving his gallery when his daughter moves from Savannah. He is a self taught artist. He has works in corporate buildings, private collections etc.

 

Mary Ann Kim has here paintings in Soho Cafe Gallery in downtown Savannah.

 

They may not be internationally known or nation wide, but locally they are. These would have a better chance selling them locally than on the net.

 

I'd have had a hard time giving up the Gerhard Meyer. But the rest, good on you for realizing a good profit.

 

While these may be well known local artists, they are not listed artists in the traditional sense. Being listed means that they can be found in national and international recognized art resources. These include Who's Who in American Art, the Benezit index of artists, and the art sales reference guides. The standard for practical use in the US used to be Davenport's. Today, much of this is on-line. The on-line resources are artprice.com, artnet.com, askart.com, blouinartinfo.com, among others.

Artists become listed in a couple of ways. Having some renown, inclusion in respected art organizations, and/or academic credentials can get artists listed in the indices of artists. However, most artists become listed through a record of art sales at auction by the handful of reporting auction houses. I say handful but, for example, art price has about 4500 auction houses reporting to them. These are not your local mom and pop auction houses but the more established auction houses throughout the world.

As more and more information becomes readily available through the internet, the question of who are listed artists becomes a bit more muddy. How the various on-line resources gather their information might not be nearly as stringent as in the past. For example, I believe that at one point, one of the larger on-line resources allowed members to submit names for inclusion. We now have worthpoint reporting ebay sales but I don't believe that anyone doing serious art research would take a report there as having the artists as being listed. I tend to use artprice for American art and still have my trusty Davenport's for back-up. I often look for non-American artists in artnet.

Most of this becomes rather moot if you are buying art for yourself based on what you like. If you are looking at art as an investment or a source of profit, you would do well to pay attention to such things. Your chances for success will go up the more you know about the art market and use the tools that are out there.

 

Ok so I ask, I have two paintings from an individual who is in the Smithsonian, Georgia Museum of Arts, Telfair Museum. He's in Who's Who of Art. He was the President of the Fine Arts Department at Gettysburg College. I can't find any sale prices from him. I m sure the reason for that is, he passed away at an early age, in his 40s back in the early 50s, I believe. He was also an author, having a series of gangster novels back in the 30s. As far as I'm aware he was not known internationally. So you're telling me he is not a listed artist?

 

"I have two paintings from an individual who is in the Smithsonian, Georgia Museum of Arts, Telfair Museum. He's in Who's Who of Art."

Technically he's a listed artist.

But, as verybrad said, the term "listed" is getting muddy. Every flea market seller finds an artist's name somewhere on the net and proclaims it "listed."

My grandfather is also in Who's Who, the Smithsonian, etc...so he is also "listed"...but there's no regular market for his work.

"Listed" had some meaning when it strictly applied to Benezit, etc., qualified and expertly researched artists, but even then it didn't mean that much.

Nowadays, at least in my view, it's often more of a sales gimmick.

-----------------------

Aside from this, I have to commend verybrad on what he was able to pick up for under $50 ea. That's what's called having a mind, an eye and experience...and using all three.

 

I did run across that Blouinartinfo.com site when I found my Reveau Basset painting. So far today, after looking through some auction sites, I did find an artist that's listed in Blouinart that I really like his art.

I'm noticing something about the art that you're showing compared to the ones that I've posted. I can see a difference in them. For the life of me, I can't find the words to describe the difference but I'm seeing it.

 

As I said above, there are a couple ways for an artist to become listed. The fact that his art is held in respected museum collections and he is listed in Who's would make him a listed artist. Having no established record of sales becomes irrelevant in regards to him being listed. It does make evaluation of his works from a value perspective more difficult.

 

I usually look for info about an artist. I like askart because it list a lot of information about that artist. If I see that a lot of works have been auctioned for that artist, I then search to see what current auction prices are bringing. If someone is auctioning a piece that is higher than comparable auction prices, I will stay away.

Now, here's my problem. If I run across a painting by a well listed artist, that has a strong track on auction sales and I'm handling a piece of work by them in my hands, I have that strong urge to purchase it. I feel that way, because it may be months or years before I see another work being offered by that same artist, at a lower price.

 

When purchasing for investment or resale, I tend to think pennies on the dollar. You have to remember that auction prices reported are for a particular work on a given day. You also have to be cognizant that the prices quoted also include selling fees that come off the top. The art market fluctuates quite a bit for works at the lower level of value for listed artists. Subject matter and size make a difference. All these things need to be taken in to account when evaluating art. This is why you often see quite different values realized for various works by a given artist.

Some of this does not matter quite as much when purchasing to hold. However, if you are buying just because you find a listed artist and don't love the art, you will soon find yourself with a lot of works with money invested with little intrinsic value to yourself. Unless something is just dirt cheap, I tend to evaluate works with an eye for myself. I always ask the question of whether or not this is a work that I would want to hang on my wall. If the answer is yes, I might be willing to pay a bit more for a given work.

Don't be afraid to pass works by unless you absolutely love them. I have found that there are endless buying opportunities. Another work of equal or better value is right around the corner. Also keep in mind that all purchases have opportunity costs. Unless you are independently wealthy, buying something now because you find it may mean that you won't have the funds to purchase something better down the line. Believe me, I have been there and done that.

 

I prefer to make spontaneous visceral decisions about purchasing an artwork before even looking at artist info, etc. Research is then used to see if asking price is justified. If the piece is not to my taste, who cares if the asking price is ten cents on the dollar?