Questions on two old paintings

I bought these two oil paintings about 25 years ago at an antique shop for $12 each (I think) and have been storing them in my garage since then. Now I'm trying to clear things out and would like to take these to a local online auction house that starts all auctions at $1.00, but thought I should post them here first to see if anyone recognizes the signature as a known artist. They look pretty amateurish to me, but I really don't know anything about old paintings. I've done some online research for C J, C T, Salomon, Solomon, Salaman (the date looks like '94), but I haven't found anything. If no one recognizes the signature, I'm hoping someone will at least tell me they have minimal value so I can get rid of them.

 

I also see Saloman. Think the date is 1911 on the first one. Tried various searches with different first initials but came up with nothing. Agree that the work is not entirely professional but done with some talent. I would be reluctant to send these to auction unless paintings do well there. These would bring very little in our local auctions. I don't know what other selling options you have but you might want to consider some place where you have more control of the price.

 

Thank you so much, verybrad, for your comments. After looking at the signature again, I see that you are right about the 1911 date. I've only used the local auction place since February and don't see any paintings listed for the current auction. However, I have seen a few other things go for amazingly high prices. I can't sell to antique malls as a picker because of a state law that now prohibits that, and I don't want people coming to my house to buy.

I also sell on eBay and wonder what your opinion is on listing these paintings there. I looked at sold paintings in the 1900-1924 category and found one that looked similar and was described as Antique Impressionism -- would that be appropriate for mine?. Mine have some condition issues, the frames have been painted over with gold paint, and there are missing pieces. I'm wondering if they would do better if I removed them from the frames to reduce shipping cost.

 

Agree work of an amateur not yet fully formed as an artist. They are not examples of Impressionism. IMO they'd best be described as 'early 20th century landscapes.' Value would be greater if you could identify locations.

Debora

 

Thank you, Debora, I really appreciate your description of them as early 20th century landscapes and your mention of identifying locations. It prompted me to think about where in Wisconsin (which is where I live and purchased the paintings) would someone have a home like the first one, and I thought of our lumber barons. So I did some googling on the topic and started thinking maybe someone painted the home where a lumber baron was born and where he lived after earning millions--or maybe the two homes have no relation but someone just wanted to paint contrasting homes in northern Wisconsin. [Edit: Or, who knows, they could be located in Europe, or just painted from someone's imagination.]

In any case, I decided I'm going to send photos of the paintings to the Wisconsin Historical Society (with variations of the signature), and ask if anyone knows if any of our lumber barons or someone else may have owned the lakeside mansion, and if anyone recognizes the name of the artist. So a BIG THANK YOU to both Debora and Brad for all your help.

 

Ebay might be appropriate with a set price rather than auction. I would keep the frames with them despite not being perfect.