Appraisals

become the expert on your own art collection

We do appraisals.... BUT...Due to the very high volume of calls to the gallery asking how to go about appraising the value of one's own, or a friend or family member's art collection, we encourage collectors to become experts on their own art collections before reaching out to galleries. If you have difficulty, enlist family members, children, friends to help you spend time researching.

Make a database. Since you'll be finding links online, it is best to use a computer to copy links easily. On your phone/tablet or computer, copy links into a Word Doc (or excel, or a draft email), one page for each piece of art. Start by adding an image of front and back, of signature. Note the size of the image (the visible part inside the linen liner or matting). Is it a lim. ed print (does it have a number in a bottom corner?) When you take a magnifying lens, can you see a dot-matrix grid? Older prints usually have that. Is it an original (messy edges, brush strokes, no grid pattern?) What can you make of the signature? Is there writing, or a card, or a bio on the back that can give you the proper spelling?

Use Google Lens To find out more about your artwork, try to google it. A great tool is to also use google lens in Google images, where you upload a photo of it for the bots to search similar. Also photograph the signature because it will look for like-signatures. When googling, use any info you already know (title, artist name or guess at artist name, guess at nationality, or if you know the artist`s home town etc.)

Share your own search suggestions with us This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. so we can add them here.

Use other languages

Try searching in the artist's own original language (perhaps their last name is Italian, for example) in inquiring. choose words (in italian, etc) like artist, biography, title, oil on canvas or oil on board, etc. You may come across some obscure bio in a community show, for example, before the artist might have disappeared. We have found obscure biographical info this way, of an Italian artist who had moved to Quebec later on in life, but we found a bio in Italian from a local community gallery show. Almost any page can be translated on google using the three dots pull down menu in the top of your browser window — translate.

Okanagan based resellers:

https://www.4thmeridian.ca/ (small auctions but they are online! Located in the Cannery on Fairview Rd Penticton)

http://pentictonartgallery.com/annual-art-auction (if you choose to donate something (tax receipts are given for certain works)) (or contact the Kelowna Art Gallery if your artist is from there...)

There are also multiple antique dealers in Kelowna to connect with also, such as Lois Lane https://www.instagram.com/loislanewarehouse/?hl=en (but they prefer mid-century modern furniture etc.) or Taylors Antiques http://www.taylorsantiques.net/

Try High end Okanagan Facebook Marketplace communities, or Okanagan buy & sell type sites such as Kijiji

If unique items, try

Curiosity shops like gaming stores. Or a bit further afield, shops that focus on the type of art you are hoping to sell (ie. Dragonspace at Granville Island in Vancouver for something dragon related)

Put as much info on your painting into google and also a google image search to find reasonable value for your painting. (If you find similar works having sold at previous auctions, try to look at med-high auction estimates and compare them to the realized hammer prices if that shows; although most auction houses lock you out of those results.)

Check if any Canadian galleries are reselling any currently Some galleries may not be sharing the prices online but you can always call them to ask.

You might find info on the (mostly painting) artists and some values here:

findartinfo.net

invaluable.com (they make you start an account, so try google first, and you might find specific auction houses like Levis or Heffel below that actually do share hammer prices or estimate values)

AUCTION HOUSES:

http://www.levisauctions.com/levis.html

Doug Levis and Cheryl Sonley, 1739 10 Avenue SW Calgary.
Levis does charge storage fees but is an excellent reseller with a lot of experience.

http://www.hodginsauction.com/

Kevin King: 5240 1A Street S.E. Calgary.
No charge for storage.

http://www.westbridge-fineart.com/about.htm

Anthony Westbridge and Nicholas
Fir Street, Vancouver

https://cowleyabbott.ca/

Cowley Abbott
326 Dundas Street West
Toronto, Ontario M5T 1G5

http://heffel.com/

(for higher end paintings/prints)
David Heffel
2247 Granville Street Vancouver

http://www.maynards.com/

Hugh Bulmer
1837 Main Street, Vancouver

Others you can research and search for your artist. These might work for you:

http://www.landoartauctions.com/

http://waddingtons.ca/

http://www.lunds.com/

http://kilshaws.com/

http://ritchies.com/ (very high end)

https://www.sothebys.com/en/sell (very high end)

https://www.christies.com/en/help/selling-guide/overview?lid=1&sc_lang=en (very high end)