This question was prompted by the enquiry about selling on eBay. My situation is that I'm an attorney for a very elderly woman who has now gone into a nursing home, and I have the unenviable task of dealing with the disposal of her house and its contents.
Unfortunately. she has no friends or family who are able or willing to assist. I recently visited the house, and although it’s a nice place and in good order nothing much seems to have changed since the 1950s. The woman in question is a very distant relative, whom we did used to visit occasionally when I was a small child, and the house and its furnishings are essentially identical to how I remember them 60 years ago.
Most of the contents seem to be of no particular interest, but there is a pair of paintings –
(My apologies for the dreadful quality of the photos - they were taken in a hurry).
As can be seen, they are signed “E Masters”, but Googling has found very little information about the artist.
I can't say they're particularly to my taste, but I did notice that another painting by him/her had been sold in 2010 – https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Near- ... 5480972D5F
It’s clearly the same artist, as the style and signature are identical. Unfortunately, in order to obtain any information about the sale via Mutual Art one has to register and pay, which seems a bit pointless as a one off enquiry. However, the fact that I've only been able to trace one other painting indicates they're an extremely minor artist.
I’m not sure what to do. I can’t imagine the paintings are worth very much – maybe a few hundred pounds each – and I would imagine the well known auction houses would either not be interested or would have a minimum commission so large as to make selling through them pointless.
I've considered trying to sell through eBay (hence my interest in the other post) but I can’t realistically see how I could even get started without at least some idea of the value of the paintings.
I have arranged the sale of artworks in the past that were known to be valuable, and it's been quite straightforward (if expensive). However, these paintings seem to be potentially too valuable just to give to the local charity shop but unlikely to be valuable enough to be of any interest to a mainstream auction house.
I therefore wondered whether anybody might be able to offer any useful advice and/or suggest the best way of disposing of them.
TIA for any replies.
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Best way to sell some paintings
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- Lemon Quarter
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- Lemon Half
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Re: Best way to sell some paintings
Well, my googling finds an Edward Masters (with one source giving E. Masters as an alias) and an Edwin Masters. I'll leave you to zoom in on signatures to figure out which is yours.
The following two links give the estimated prices auction houses have put on their paintings, without needing a subscription:
https://www.invaluable.com/artist/masters-edward-e4ccum52cg/sold-at-auction-prices/
https://www.invaluable.com/artist/masters-edwin-3fzzbvskmz/sold-at-auction-prices/
And both Bonhams and Christies have sold both artists before, and these give actual sold prices (if it doesn't it means that one didn't sell).
https://www.bonhams.com/search/?chronology=past&query=edward+masters
https://www.bonhams.com/search/?chronology=past&query=edwin+masters
https://www.christies.com/en/search?entry=edward%20masters&page=1&sortby=relevance&tab=sold_lots
https://www.christies.com/en/search?entry=edwin%20masters&page=1&sortby=relevance&tab=sold_lots
Of course, none of that's not going to tell you how much yours will go for, but at least it's a start...
The following two links give the estimated prices auction houses have put on their paintings, without needing a subscription:
https://www.invaluable.com/artist/masters-edward-e4ccum52cg/sold-at-auction-prices/
https://www.invaluable.com/artist/masters-edwin-3fzzbvskmz/sold-at-auction-prices/
And both Bonhams and Christies have sold both artists before, and these give actual sold prices (if it doesn't it means that one didn't sell).
https://www.bonhams.com/search/?chronology=past&query=edward+masters
https://www.bonhams.com/search/?chronology=past&query=edwin+masters
https://www.christies.com/en/search?entry=edward%20masters&page=1&sortby=relevance&tab=sold_lots
https://www.christies.com/en/search?entry=edwin%20masters&page=1&sortby=relevance&tab=sold_lots
Of course, none of that's not going to tell you how much yours will go for, but at least it's a start...
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- Lemon Half
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Re: Best way to sell some paintings
I reckon most of the small-town auctioneers would be able to give you a ballpark price range without charging you anything. And they're often clued in quite well to the better-quality art trade. My local auction house (https://www.gardinerhoulgate.co.uk/depa ... rks+of+Art) recently valued a large gilt picture frame for me after I sent them a pic, and they were very attentive. The valuer was ex Bonhams. No charge. (On reflection, I'm donating the frame to charity instead.)
As for the better-quality art trade, somebody at Christies deserves a bit of a rocket. I see that one of their listings of Edwin Masters (
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5043510) gives his timeline as 1916-1935. Not bad for a spotty teenager, but where are all the inter-war cars?
BJ
As for the better-quality art trade, somebody at Christies deserves a bit of a rocket. I see that one of their listings of Edwin Masters (
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5043510) gives his timeline as 1916-1935. Not bad for a spotty teenager, but where are all the inter-war cars?
BJ
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- Lemon Half
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Re: Best way to sell some paintings
Clitheroekid wrote:Most of the contents seem to be of no particular interest, but there is a pair of paintings ....
I see that one of those links posted by mc2 shows Edwin/Edward as if they were interchangeable.
It would cost you nothing to put them on eBay with a 99p opener and a reserve. Albeit I have noticed in the past when browsing eBay that pastoral/landscape paintings tend to attract less interest.
Otherwise, as said, local auction house would be a good start.
V8
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- Lemon Slice
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Re: Best way to sell some paintings
88V8 wrote:Clitheroekid wrote:Most of the contents seem to be of no particular interest, but there is a pair of paintings ....
I see that one of those links posted by mc2 shows Edwin/Edward as if they were interchangeable.
V8
Following the first two links to my untrained but exhibition-enthusiast eye, I would suggest that we are referring to Edwin here, not Edward.
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- Lemon Half
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Re: Best way to sell some paintings
88V8 wrote:Clitheroekid wrote:Most of the contents seem to be of no particular interest, but there is a pair of paintings ....
I see that one of those links posted by mc2 shows Edwin/Edward as if they were interchangeable.
Indeed, the first link has some listed as by "Edward (Edwin) Masters".
Looking at the details of the Christies Edward Masters ones, all of those (where a signature is mentioned) bar two say they're signed with the initials E.M., with one saying it's signed E. Masters.
And looking at the details of the Christies Edwin Masters ones, all of those (where a signature is mentioned) bar one say they're signed E. Masters.
The other ones in both cases are two very similar paintings, even down to their size -- which are both signed "G Lara"!
https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-4113147 & https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-4454962.
And, indeed, if one googles Georgina Lara a fair amount pops up, including "Her work is sometimes attributed to Edward Masters, whose style is very similar to her own." https://www.haynesfineart.com/artists/georgina-lara-uk
Anyway, that diversion aside, it does look like Edwin/Edward are the same person.
All of the auction houses (the big'uns at least) do free no-obligation valuations, and as Christies and Bonhams have sold his work before I'd start by contacting them. It looks like both will do a provisional one online, https://www.christies.com/home/selling-services/auction-services/auction-estimates/overview and https://sell.bonhams.com/, and it looks like Bonhams has regular valuation events around the country. https://www.bonhams.com/valuation_events/
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- Lemon Half
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Re: Best way to sell some paintings
bungeejumper wrote:As for the better-quality art trade, somebody at Christies deserves a bit of a rocket. I see that one of their listings of Edwin Masters (
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5043510) gives his timeline as 1916-1935. Not bad for a spotty teenager, but where are all the inter-war cars?
Umm ... even if his timeline was 1916-1935, why should any painting have to include imagery contemporary to when it was made?
Anyway, seems it's not only Christies: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/attributed-to-edwin-masters-fl-1916-1935-young-537-c-c5023630e5
While most of the dates in the various listing are Victorian, I see that one of the Christies ones is listed as "exh.1916-1935", which I believe stands for "exhibited", which may be where the confusion comes from....
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