Jim Rabby, "Sunflowers," discovered at a House Sale by a 31 Club Member, is Offered at $3,500 in the 31 Gallery.

Summer generally sees the number of sales being conducted increase significantly, and I’ve noticed the number of sales in my area are unusually high. I’m guessing that people are scraping up extra money as economic times become a little more difficult. This presents a greater opportunity for us to find treasures.

The number of auctions increase in the summertime, as well, and this will give you many opportunities to consign your purchases and watch your account grow. With school out for most of us, you might be able to incorporate trips into business trips as well, as long as you spend some time locating and purchasing treasure for your inventory. What a great summer this might prove to be.

Paintings and Drawings Will Always Have Good Value

What will we be looking, for in the way of treasure this summer? I like to search for things that are harder for most people to evaluate. Painting and Drawings will always have good value, even if you can’t identify the artist, and these can qualify for being harder for most people to evaluate.
A good painting is a good painting regardless of who did it. While these may not bring as much as Andy Warhol’s 73 million dollar painting, if you only paid $40 to $100 for it and you’ve made a profit of ten times your investment, then what’s wrong with that? Often I’ve seen a $500 frame with an original painting sell for under $100. This is truly what we are looking for while we’re awaiting that special treasure to come our way.

If you begin to take notice of the artwork at each sale you attend, you might be surprised at what can happen. I’ll give you an idea by sharing William’s story. William is new 31 Club member and a newbie to this industry. His first purchase of a Jim Rabby painting for $40 is now listed in the 31 Club Marketplace for $3,500 (a fair price for this artist.) His next purchase of a 1904 M. Van Buren painting of cattle resting in a stream is a very popular subject matter in fine art paintings, and this artist has painted it superbly. I just sold one a similar themed painting in Evansville, Indiana for over $2500 and, believe me, it wasn't as well painted as this one and was much smaller.

When William first sent me photos of the painting, I figured it would be priced at $5,000 considering its size and excellent workmanship. The people selling this were asking $400, already a bargain, but when it was still there the last day of the sale, I instructed William to offer $100. To his amazement, they accepted his offer. It’s now listed with us at $1,000. Personally, I think it’s way too cheap, but William wants to make his first sale. It shouldn’t stay listed long at that price.

After all this, you probably won’t believe this next one, but William just sent me another photo of a painting that had been in the same family since the early 1940’s. I personally fell in love with this piece and he hadn’t purchased it at the sale, so I sent him scurrying back to purchase it. It was so nice I found myself holding my breath, fearing it might be sold, before I finally heard back from William. Although the painting is unsigned, the family had a record of when it was painted, along with the scene and location of the subject matter. I think William is stuck on the $40 figure, because that’s what he got it for.

This latest painting is a fine painting, but what will the public pay for it? Perhaps $1,000 or $2,500? I’ll have to let him make that decision. The way I figure it, he invested a total of $180 for three paintings with the potential selling price of $5,500 or more. Not bad for a man who told me he didn’t know anything about this business.

I have shared with you what I think is the number one item to keep your eyes out for, but I would love to hear what you will be looking for as we come out of our winter hibernation.

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