Selling an old painting

valueman1

I have inherited an old painting worth around £5,000 which I don’t want. I’m in London.  Would you sell at auction or to a dealer? Any recommendations?

soolin

I’d talk to both and see what they offer , how good is your £5000 valuation though as if that’s an insurance valuation you can knock a fair bit off when you sell, plus if it is going for resale they will have that as their selling price so will obviously want to buy from you an awful lot cheaper.

The pros of an auction is that it might go to someone buying for themselves so you might achieve more if it is going to be sold on, the cons are the huge amount of fees and commission you will pay , you may have to budget for up to 40% of the hammer price. The pros of a dealer is that you won’t pay fees if selling direct, the cons are, as mentioned above, they will want it cheap to sell on. 

valueman1

@soolin thanks, I suppose another option is eBay, I have seen pictures for this price and more.  Auction fees are eye watering…

JGB1955

My nephew has inherited an original Lenkiewicz portrait of my father.  My father loved it... but nobody else did/does, including the local 'specialist' auctioneer who thought it was worthless.  I'm with him.  I think it's probably worth far less than the £3K it was insured for but I was just glad to get it out of the house before it went to landfill.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

RFW

valueman1 said:

@soolin thanks, I suppose another option is eBay, I have seen pictures for this price and more.  Auction fees are eye watering…

It's probably worth emailing a few auction houses with details/pictures. It's not impossible you'd do OK on Ebay but the auction houses might have buyers on their books, possibly even overseas, and think it could do well.

I'm guessing there's a known(ish) artist involved so try Googling and see if any auction houses have sold one recently.

Some auction houses do charge a lot so worth shopping around on that too, also check when they'd be selling it and when you'd get paid. Some have auctions way in advance and take a long time to pay out.

soolin

RFW said:

valueman1 said:

@soolin thanks, I suppose another option is eBay, I have seen pictures for this price and more.  Auction fees are eye watering…

It's probably worth emailing a few auction houses with details/pictures. It's not impossible you'd do OK on Ebay but the auction houses might have buyers on their books, possibly even overseas, and think it could do well.

I'm guessing there's a known(ish) artist involved so try Googling and see if any auction houses have sold one recently.

Some auction houses do charge a lot so worth shopping around on that too, also check when they'd be selling it and when you'd get paid. Some have auctions way in advance and take a long time to pay out.

That’s a good idea about checking for recent sales by the same artist , artists and styles come and go as popular .

soolin

valueman1 said:

@soolin thanks, I suppose another option is eBay, I have seen pictures for this price and more.  Auction fees are eye watering…

The problem with selling it yourself on ebay is the shipping . Regulars will have heard before about my foray into art some 10 years ago, bought some original art, oils and watercolours from local auctions for pennies and then realised that no normal courier would carry framed and glazed art, or unglazed oils without it being crated . I did consider posting them uninsured but it would be a tough sell anyway and a lot of work packing for little return in my case. As your painting is much much higher end than mine you would need insurance and almost certainly would need a specialist courier and possibly Packer as well.

for those who know the saga of my art, yes I do still have paintings behind every single wardrobe and every cupboard although I did sell 4 or 5 paintings last year or Facebook for collection  , the first I’ve sold for years. 

theoretica

I have had good experience using Alban shipping - but they deliver/collect on their own schedule not like big companies who can do any day or come back if you are not in.

valueman1

@soolin I hadn’t even thought about the shipping.  It’s a large painting with a big frame so could be costly to transport. 

valueman1

@RFW The painting would look so out of place in my home unfortunately, it’s way too big. I’ve come across a website called ivaluer which gives you a valuation for £10 per item, they might be worth a try. 

martindow

valueman1 said:

@RFW The painting would look so out of place in my home unfortunately, it’s way too big. I’ve come across a website called ivaluer which gives you a valuation for £10 per item, they might be worth a try. 

I think I would start with auction houses as suggested above who will tell you if they would be interested in selling it and an idea of a suitable guide price rather than paying another site.  If you get a value you still need to choose a suitable auctioneer.

Have you googled the artist to see if there are listings for auctions of their work?  This would give you some ideas of who to approach.