Art Poster Auctions

 Art Poster Auctions 

Art poster auctions are very popular.  Owning great pieces of art has gotten easier.  A properly framed art poster can be as nice as owning an original painting and it is far less expensive.

I have found many different art styles in art poster auctions.  The most expensive art poster in the abstract style sold recently on eBay was a 1959 Picasso entitled Les Menines.  The poster sold for $560.00.

There was an original and authentic art poster auction recently in the art deco style that caught my eye.  The poster was from 1961 and was for Breakfast at Tiffany.  The poster sold for over three thousand dollars.

World’s Fair art poster auctions seem to do very well.  I saw an auction for the 1939 New York World’s Fair that sold for more than fifteen hundred dollars.  There was another art poster auction for the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair that went for just under fifteen hundred dollars.

In the Asian art poster auction market, there seems to be some really odd things.  I found a poster that depicted McDonald’s hamburgers invading Japan.  The poster got fourteen bids from six different people and it closed at four hundred fifty five dollars.

In the category of Impressionist art poster auctions, I found one for the 2006 Jazz Festival in New Orleans that sold for over four hundred dollars.  It was done by a Cajun artist named James Michalopulos and featured Fats Domino.  The colors in the poster were brilliant.

I found that the category of Modern art posters seems to get the most auction listings.  There is one art poster that keeps being re-listed because it just doesn’t sell.  The poster is from the Elvis movie Love Me Tender.  Apparently the owner of this poster has determined that it is worth one thousand dollars and will not take less than that.  He hasn’t sold it yet, but I wish him luck.

There were another Modern art poster auctions that really did well as far as I could tell.  They were Greyhound travel posters.  There were a couple of art poster auctions that sold recently.  They were both created in the 1950’s and both of the posters sold for around three hundred dollars each.

After researching so many art poster auctions, I have come to the conclusion that my parents and grandparents should have collected every piece of advertising they ever came across.  They would be worth a small fortune by now! 

The Sante Fe Railroad as a subject is prominently sold in art poster auctions.  These must be highly collectable because they generate a lot of bids.  If the art poster auction is for an old original poster of the Sante Fe Railroad, it will fetch upwards of four hundred dollars.

I found an art poster auction that was listed by the artist himself.  He made a black ink drawing for the Pearl Jam concert in Rome in 1996.  This original drawing was what the poster was made from.

Pop art poster auctions cover a lot of different topics.  One of my favorites was a 7-up soda advertisement from 1970 that featured The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine.  The item did not sell, but it was fun to look at.

In the style of Realism, art poster auctions abound.  I found one that was an advertisement for United Airlines and depicted the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.  This poster sold for over one hundred fifty dollars.

The most interesting art poster auctions I found were for rock concerts.  I liked the one listed for at 1956 Rolling Stones concert and there was another one for a Grateful Dead concert in Hawaii.  They sold for a combined total of over seven thousand dollars.  The interest in these art poster auctions was overwhelming.

Advertising seems to be a big theme in the art poster auctions that I looked at.  I found advertisements for just about everything.  I liked the poster for Russian beer that was created in the late 1920’s.  It would look fantastic framed in my neighborhood bar.  The buyer of this particular poster bought it for $475.00.

Concert posters are fun to look through.  Art poster auctions feature a lot of posters for concerts.  I found one that was made by Jim Pollock for a Phish concert in 2000 in Hartford.  I liked it, but I am not a fan of Phish and the three hundred dollars that it went for seemed a little pricey to me.

Books about Dale Chihuly

Books about art sell well in art auctions.  I have found many publications that feature my favorite artist, Dale Chihuly.  There are books, catalogs and even magazines routinely up for auction.

Chihuly Gardens and Glass is currently for sale in several art auctions.  This book is beautifully illustrated and shows installations at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago.  The book has an essay by Barbara Rose addressing Dale Chihuly's place in art history.  There is another essay by the Garfield Conservatory director that provides a history of garden conservatories 

Chihuly at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew features more than one hundred photographs that captured this event.  An art auction for this book sold for fifty dollars.  The exhibit at the Royal Botanical Gardens was Dale Chihuly’s first botanical garden exhibition outside of the United States.

Chihuly Seaforms has an excellent value at an art auction.  It depicts forty four color photographs of his most ethereal series to date.  The pieces he created for this series have been called not only "reflections of skill, passion, teamwork and sheer genius" but also "tributes" to the sea.  He is truly a master.

Chihuly Form Fire was published in 1993 and it only occasionally shows up in art auctions.  The book is hardcover and 144 pages long with over 75 color reproductions of his splendid work.  There is a very informative commentary in the book about Chihuly’s career.  

Chihuly has been exhibited all over the world and the accompanying catalogs sell for a lot at an art auction.  The catalogs have a value to people that cannot possibly afford to ever own an actual piece of his art.  I bought a catalog at an art auction that depicted his installations from the years 1964-1992.  I have spent a lot of time looking at the photographs and have determined that Chihuly is pure genius.

I really want to find a copy of Chihuly Jerusalem 2000 at an art auction.  The book sells new for fifty dollars.  I think that the story of this journey and exhibit is extraordinary and I want to own a copy of this book.  This book contains 117 full-color reproductions and from what I’ve seen they are all extraordinary.

I was surprised that even the book of Chihuly’s drawings has tremendous resale value at an art auction.  He is able to convey such beauty and energy with his work and these drawings actually do the same thing.  These drawings are what his ideas start out as before they are fully realized in glass.

There is one inexpensive Chihuly book that I rarely seen in art auctions.  It only contains 17 color reproductions.  It does cover the installations that had 20,000 pounds of ice.  These were called the neon-and-ice installations and they had a powerful effect on the people that viewed them.  This book is soft cover and it is better to buy it new from a website than from a previous owner at an art auction.

I’ve lost countless art auctions for the book that contains photos of his exhibit at the Marlborough Gallery in New York City.  I just never bid enough.  At some point, I will probably just have to bid more to win it from an art auction.  I know that the 51 images are dramatic, but the book is a soft cover and I just don’t think I should pay $25 for it.

My mother won a Chihuly book for me at an art auction last year.  It chronicled the installation in Japan at the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art in 1990.  I loved each and every one of the 54 images contained in this book.  I have been asked several times to loan it to friends, but I have refused.  This is one book that I refuse to lose.

In 1986, Chihuly was only the fourth American to get a solo exhibition at the Louvre in Paris.  There was a soft cover book published with 33 photos in it that chronicles the exhibit.  Also in the book is an introduction written by the chief curator and director of the Centre du Verre.  This is the next book I hope to own and I’ve been watching art auctions hoping to see it pop up.

Breweriana at Art Auctions

My father-in-law is very interest in beer art.  Breweriana is the special name for beer related artifacts.  I’ve been watching for special pieces to add to his collection at art auctions I’ve been attending.

The first breweriana piece that I acquired for my father-in-law was a 1940s Lone Star Beer sign.  He was so happy with this find at the art auction that he asked me to keep finding him interesting pieces of beer history.  I think that finding breweriana at art auctions is definitely a commentary on today’s society.

I found another really old piece of breweriana at the very next art auction I attended.  It was another sign and it was from the 1930s for Ziegler Beer.  I was at an art auction in Wisconsin and had to ship that sign to my father-in-law by freight.

My quest for breweriana has taken me to some art auctions that I would not have ordinarily attended and I’ve met people that I don’t ordinarily meet.  I got into a bidding war with a Cajun man over a Jax Beer sign from the 1930s.  The auctioneer said that it was a piece of New Orleans history.

The Cajun outbid me at every opportunity.  I had a limit that had been set by my father-in-law and we were closing in on it when he finally stopped bidding.  I won that piece of breweriana at the art auction for eight hundred dollars.

The porcelain breweriana signs are showing up at art auctions all over the country.  I found another one from the 1930s for Supreme Beer that was double sided and oval.  I was really pleased when I was able to present that one to my father-in-law.

The tin breweriana signs are actually not showing up as often at art auctions.  I felt fortunate when I found one from the 1930s for Washington Beer.  The ceramic breweriana signs are much more commonplace.

After my first few purchases of breweriana for my father-in-law he decided that his taste really did run to items from the 1930s and 1940s.  I’ve tried to keep this in mind when I find new acquisitions.  

I usually stay away from neon or illuminating breweriana.  I just don’t think it fits in with the feeling of my father-in-law’s collection.  The antique feel of everything is nice.  He has taken up beer making as a hobby since his wife passed away, so it is not a far leap to beer art collecting.

The Goetz Country Club Beer sign that I won at an art auction in Indiana was a little more chipped than the other pieces I’ve gotten.  I was intent on winning this sign because Goetz was my father-in-law’s mother’s maiden name.  He was so happy with this old piece of breweriana because of the name on it that it instantly became the centerpiece of his collection.

I found two pieces of cardboard breweriana at an art auction in Ohio.  I decided that they were going to sell so cheaply that I could buy them and frame them for the collection.  I’m glad I went to that art auction.  

I won a sign for Velvet Beer and another one for Stratford Beer.  They both were from the 1930s and they were more colorful than tin breweriana signs that I’d purchased at other art auctions.  The framer that I used framed both pieces for fifty dollars.

The art auction that I attended in Rochester, New York turned out to be very fruitful for my father-in-law’s breweriana collection.  There was a Standard Dry Ale reverse painted glass sign up for auction.  The sign had hung in a bar until the 1960s when the bar closed down.

The most recent piece of breweriana that I bought at an art auction was an original prohibition era Miller High Life Brew sign.  The red and black sign looked great on the wall with the other signs in the collection.  My father-in-law plans to build an old-fashioned bar in his home, at least the decorating is complete!

Christie’s in Amsterdam

There are so many good lots up for auction this summer at Christie’s in Amsterdam.  There is a lot by Petrus Paulus Schiedges called Sailing on open water that is oil on panel.  This is supposed to sell for more than two thousand euros.

There is another lot up for auction at Christie’s that is of a busy canal near a Dutch town.  It was painted by Joseph Bles.  Joseph Bles was Dutch and he signed his painting “J Bles”.  This painting should go for about fifteen hundred euros.

Albertus Verhoesen was Dutch and he painted a lovely painting called Cattle in a Sunny Meadow.  The painting was created in 1845.  It is up for auction in Amsterdam at Christie’s this summer.  This painting will sell for more than twelve hundred euros.

Louis Smets was a 19th century Belgian.  His painting of a horse-drawn-sled on a frozen waterway is up for auction this summer at Christie’s in Amsterdam.  It is possible that this painting could fetch six thousand euros.

There is a nice painting by German Johann Erdmann Gottlieb called The Runaway Carriage that is dated 1844.  It is one of the lots up for sale at Christie’s in Amsterdam.  This is a rather large painting at 59.5 x 89 cm.  The auction house thinks that it could sell for as much as five thousand euros.

The most expensive painting up for auction at Christie’s in Amsterdam this summer is called Setting Out.  Setting Out was painted in the nineteenth century by Abraham Hulk.  The painting is oil on canvas and it is estimated to sell for up to twenty thousand euros.

All of the top five paintings at the summer auction at Christie’s in Amsterdam were painted by Dutch painters.  I think that I like the Jan Cossaar painting depicting playing in the snow after school better than I like the painting entitled Bollenveld by Anton Dircks.  They look like they will sell for similar prices.

The oil painting of a lake in a panoramic Alpine landscape by Swiss artist Jacob Joseph Zelger is very large and very beautiful.  I liked the style that he used for his creation.  Christie’s estimates that this painting will sell for five to seven thousand euros.

There were less than twenty lots that Christie’s estimates will auction for less than a thousand euros.  I found one of the most inexpensive paintings listed in the catalogue to be that of a clown with two yellow balls.  It really did not speak to me at all and I’m not surprised that it will sell for one of the smallest amounts.

I actually liked the Dutch artist Simon Maris’ oil painting of pumpkins, grapes and elderberries.  The painting is signed and may go for as little as seven hundred euros.  Simon Maris lived from 1873-1935.

Another piece of art up for auction at the Christie’s in Amsterdam is a lithograph printed in colors from 1978.  The artist is Bram van Velde and he signed his piece in pencil.  Bidding for this piece may go as high as sixteen hundred euros.  This artist was very poor as a child.  He first entered into an apprenticeship as a painter in 1907 in The Hague.

Another painting that is going to be auctioned off at Christie’s in Amsterdam this summer is a flower still life with chrysanthemums.  This oil painting was painted by Willem Elisa Roelofs.  He was from The Hague and his painting should go for about seventeen hundred euros.

Collecting Enesco

My friends and I have been collecting Enesco for several years.  We actively attend art auctions and bid on everything Enesco!  We have a lot of fun finding pieces we don’t already have and winning them.

I think collecting Enesco is fun.  I really like the Mary Moo Moo plates.  They came in a collection of eight plates from a series called Home is Where the Herd is.  I’ve had a hard time finding a complete set at an art auction, but I have found several single plates.

I started collecting Enesco right after I was married.  I went to an art auction with my sister-in-law and she pointed out some items that she was collecting.  The experience I had with her that day really made an impression on me.

I went to an art auction several months after the first one I attended and bought my first piece of Enesco.  I got my start collecting Enesco with just one plate.  I bought an Enesco plate that said Cookies are for Sharing.  I have displayed it in my kitchen ever since.

I am still lacking an Enesco plate that says Cream of the Crop.  It is hard to believe that I’ve been actively collecting Enesco for so long and have been unable to locate this plate.  I have duplicates and triplicates of several of the plates.  Each art auction I attend, I am hopeful that I will find the plate I need to complete that set.

My best friend has been collecting Enesco ever since she had a baby a few years ago.  She decided on a teddy bear design for the nursery and I gave her a shower gift of several Cherished Teddies figurines for decorating with.  She found more of the figurines at an art auction she went to with me and has been unstoppable ever since.

Precious Moments figurines have never been something that I particularly liked.  My friend’s daughter loves them.  She started collecting Enesco Precious Moments figurines after we took her with us to an art auction that had a small lot of them.  She spends significantly less on her collection than the rest of us do, but I think she’ll catch up.

My husband’s birthday is on Halloween.  He has started collecting Enesco Halloween statues.  I bought him one statue at an art auction several years for his birthday and he totally fell in love with the work of Jim Shore.

The first Enesco statue that my husband found for himself was at an art auction we attended together while on vacation.  He found the statue called Grim Reaper absolutely irresistible.  I have to agree, the detail work is positively spooky!  He has been searching for other pieces, but does not pursue collecting Enesco very actively.

My husband went golfing last weekend while I attended an art auction.  Collecting Enesco is my passion and I rarely pass up items that I really like.  I found a piece for me that added to my Moo Moo plate collection and I found a Headless Horseman for my husband’s collection.

The next piece that my husband has indicated that he wants to find at an art auction is the Jim Shore piece called Witch on a Pumpkin.  I know that collecting Enesco can be addictive and it is nice that he has decided which pieces he really wants.  I agree with my husband and really like the folk art that Jim Shore does.

Decorative Collectibles at Art Auctions

I have found many decorative collectibles at art auctions over the years.  I have a display cabinet filled with all of my finds.  My favorite of all of the decorative collectibles are Pendelfin rabbits.

Pendelfin rabbits captivated my interest when I was a young girl.  My dad was stationed in England and my mother bought me my first of many decorative collectibles at an art auction.  The bookends that she bought for me are extremely rare and I recently had them appraised at more than fifteen hundred dollars.

I’ve been searching at art auctions in my area every time that decorative collectibles are advertised as being up for sale.  My greatest hope is that I can find a Pendelfin item named The Shoe.  I’ve been looking for this particular piece for about five years.

The larger pieces of decorative collectibles seem to get really expensive really fast at an art auction.  I’ve seen three people at once bidding up the Pendelfin rabbits to a point where the price is just out of my reach.  I love these rabbits, but I have to stay on budget when I attend an art auction.

There is one Pendelfin item that I found at an art auction early in my collection that I spend a lot more money than I wanted to.  I just had no idea how much a love of decorative collectibles could end up costing.  The item I bought was a three inch by four inch little plaque with Robert the rabbit depicted.

I sell decorative collectibles with online art auctions.  I find the items at art auctions and sales that I attend in person.  I have never resold a piece of Pendelfin.  I keep them in my own private collection.  My husband bought me a Pendelfin figurine named Auctioneer.  I love it.

Almost all of the rabbits produced by Pendelfin are small.  These decorative collectibles have retained their value for a long time.  Art auctions are a great place to hunt for really cool pieces that are larger and rare.  I’ve been looking for one named Aunt Ruby for a couple of years, now.

Aunt Ruby is one of the large size rabbits.  I already have Uncle Soames and Mother.  These were actually some of the first pieces of decorative collectibles.  I found them at an art auction I attended with my husband before we married.

There was an anniversary piece put out by Pendelfin.  I don’t think that it is worth what I keep seeing it for new and in stores that sell decorative collectibles.  I’ll just keep looking for it at a reasonable price at the art auctions I attend.

I was so excited when I found two big pieces of Pendelfin decorative collectibles at the last art auction I attended.  I bought both the one named Toy Shop and the one named The Castle Tavern.  They look great with all of the others that I’ve bought and won at auctions over the years.

My sister called me from an art auction last year to tell me that she had found a treasure trove of decorative collectibles.  She said that there was one lot that contained nine Pendelfin pieces.  I authorized her to pay up to four hundred dollars for the lot because some of the pieces were chipped.  I was shocked when the lot went for eighty dollars, the opening bid.