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These are all great points!
Also, of course, the market itself is constantly changing. I worked at an antique shop in the 1990’s, and we were getting great prices for things — Victoriana, depression glass, Nippon — that sit and sit at local thrifts with no interest today. One’s understanding of not only the platform but also the market has to be flexible — and there are so many people who just want to complain instead of learn.
Hang in there, Paul!
Knowing what I know right now, I’d absolutely start my business today. Right now, I’m working part-time at a high school (totally loving it, would probably do it for free) and then selling part-time on eBay. But, as much as I do love my outside job, being back in the hourly-pay world (I became a stay at home mom in 2004) has given me a fresh perspective on, and a renewed incredulous joy in, the wonder of thrifting and selling. Finding a plate, or a vase, or a pair of shoes at the thrift shop and selling them for a bigger profit than I make in several hours at the school… it’s breathtaking.
Just to add, I think he did a number of similar cityscape abstracts; I think that the original painting the OP has is super similar to, but different from, the lithographs. If you google his name and “Cityscape,” a bunch of different, but similar, pieces show up. So it may not be that this is THE original painting on which the lithos were based, but rather AN original painting by this artist.
Mike, thanks so much for the explanation of Giclee prints. I didn’t totally understand what they were before.
If it’s a good plan, $1000/month isn’t terrible. We pay a little less per month, but we have a massive deductible.
Jay, re: running your business through “tweaks” — I had a fortune cookie yesterday that said “If you spend all of your time learning the tricks of the trade, you may never learn the trade.” Seems apropos to your position.
Most self-employed people cover their own health insurance costs; there’s nothing specific to selling on eBay that makes health insurance less accessible than it is to any other self-employed person. Depending on your state, the Obamacare exchange might be a good place to start.
I misread your original post and thought you had a lithograph. Apologies!
Here’s a link to the findartinfo page with his sold prices: http://www.findartinfo.com/english/list-prices-by-artist/5/3453/xanti-alexander-schawinsky/page/1.html
For your first one, you might want to poke around and see if those cross stitch patterns are from a “Precious Moments” kit or kits.
Interesting. I was doing some eBay phone research on the fly at one of my local thrifts yesterday and couldn’t find any similar items. Then I ran a phone eBay search for the same item once I got home (and used all the same words in a different order) and found like three similar items. I was super-confused but this could be the answer.
According to findartinfo (a free sold price database), his color lithographs have sold at auctions (ebay is not included in their sales data; it’s more like an artnet or mutualart but with prices instead of photos; easily cross-referenceable with sites that have photos) for roughly $200 to $500. Again, these are not eBay prices.
I notice that the name in the listing title is “Bolin” but the jacket actually says “Bohlin.” If you search “Bohlin jacket,” there are several completed sales out there, including a Worthpoint one for the same jacket and a listing on liveauctioneers for a similar jacket in a different colorway which sold for $375.
IF you google “Edward Bolin jacket” the CL listing is the first hit, for anyone who wants to see it.
Okay, and with that, I’m calling it for “Chico Art Glass,” formerly of Seattle.
http://www.spectrumglass.com/stained-glass/galleries/gallery-item-detail.asp?i=18
I have found a few Bitossi pieces in the wild — a pair of chippy candlesticks that didn’t go for much and a tiny little vase that wasn’t worth a ton either.
My biggest Italian pottery fail, though, was a piece signed “Gambone.” I thought it was a small piece by Guido Gambone but it turns out to have been a much more scarce piece by Bruno — I thought I knew what I had, and I vastly undersold myself. Sigh! Always do the research, even when you think you know!
