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June 6 to June 15, 201
Total Items In Store: +/- 105
Items Sold: 5
Cost of Items Sold: $15.50
Total Sales: $ 179
Highest Price Sold: $ 55 (art print)
Average Price Sold: $ 35Gut Sales Report for the week: Sales were very, very soft, but it was the last week of school and I didn’t have a ton of time to work on eBay… so it was okay.
Challenge of the week: Getting some death piles listed! I want to load up the shop over the summer so I head into September/next school year with a shop of at least 250 items of decent value. Because I have problems with inventory management/organization, a super-large shop doesn’t work for me, so I’m trying to go higher-dollar with each item. I think about 250 items will be manageable.
Scavenge of the week: I found some art deco silverplate which might be more valuable than I expected. Apparently it’s a scarce line by a niche designer. The first day I found 6 cups, but then researched them and realized there are other pieces in the set (a tray, a pitcher, etc.) so I went back to the shop every day for a week hoping more pieces would emerge. The second day I found 2 more cups, but that’s it. I’m still keeping my eyes peeled and will probably list them mid-week if nothing else shows up.
Week of Jun 2 – 8
* Total Items in Store: about 100
* Items Sold: 5
* Cost of Items Sold: $39.25
* Total Sales: $440.00
* Highest Price Sold: $250 serigraph
* Average Price Sold: $88
* Returns: 0
* Number of items listed this week: +/- 10I generally have only about 100 items in my shop, at least recently, and I feel like I get a decent number of “send offers to buyers.” So far, it’s only worked a few times, and always on items around $30. I do seem to get a different array of items on desktop vs. mobile. I’ve noticed that the number of watchers is not always the same as the number of people eBay sends an offer to… I’ll have 5 watchers, say, and the eBay prompt will be “send an offer to 1 buyer.” So that could be why the same item comes up multiple times.
The school year is winding down and I’m looking forward to loading up my store over the summer. This school year my responsibilities were increased (although my wages weren’t) and it really cut into my eBay (sourcing/listing) time. For next year, they’re creating a different position for me, which has higher wages (I don’t know yet how much higher) but “will be more work.” I haven’t seen the job description yet so I don’t know exactly what’s involved. Anyway, my plan is to really fill up the store this summer (I’ll still be small, but maybe 250 to 400 items) in anticipation of not being able to source/list much next school year, either. I do have lots of unlisted inventory so I can hit the ground running when school ends Friday.
Oh, yes — except that I’m in grad school and will have all the kids at home! Ha!
Mike,
Best wishes to you and Susan as she undergoes treatment and recovery.
Super-exciting!
I’m sure you found this page, which says that passports signed by JQAdams are super-rare.
https://www.raabcollection.com/john-q-adams-autograph/john-q-adams-signed-sold-very-scarce-diplomatic-passport-signed-john-quincySharyn, I’m almost certain that’s not a mortar, but rather some sort of cup.
I wouldn’t have bought these, but that said I’m sure they have their audience/market. I would probably use keywords like “kitsch,” “potty humor,” and the like. Maybe “gag gift”? I can see these being funny for someone getting married, or someone with the right sense of humor who is having boy/girl twins. So, in my opinion, that’s their value. I don’t think these have any value based on materials or artist, so I wouldn’t spend a ton more time trying to pin down their creator (except to ask what she was thinking, and chastise her for inflicting these on the world.)
I was about to comment that the author of the catalogue raisonne of Reginald Marsh’s etchings, engravings, and lithographs is still alive — here’s his website: http://normansasowsky.com/ — but then I checked the Smithsonian Marsh archive and realized that the author’s work and notes are contained in it, right? And you’ve been in touch with them. So maybe there’s nothing to be gained by contacting the author.
I would think twice about polishing it; if you do decide to polish it, be very, very careful and do a bunch of research into cleaning vermeil beforehand.
I thought I posted a long reply to this but it seems not to have gone through.
I wonder if this could actually be vermeil rather than brass. The face hallmark could be a Minerva mark, which was used in France to signify silver. If you look up Tetard Freres, they did quite a bit of work in vermeil. It’s definitely worth further research in that direction.
Sally, I’m so sorry.
I wonder if at some point the library circulated copies of paintings; one of our local libraries did that into the 1990s. I suppose that makes sense, although it’s not clear why this apparently completely obscure painting by Marsh would have been copied and offered by the library. I’m going to dig around further and see what I can find. I’m so disappointed on your behalf, but as everyone’s said, it’s a good learning experience & you can put your knowledge to use right away.
AJ, so exciting!
How did you determine your eBay price point? It feels a little low to me, but I know you’ve put in a ton of research and know way more than my gut. 🙂
AJ, it’s all super-encouraging! I remember that Cortes episode well. My fingers are crossed. If you have Freeman’s take a look at it, do you also feel like you need to get outside authentication?
And I don’t mean at all to cast aspersions on your painting. Art forgery is sort of a “special interest” of mine so I talk about it probably more than is necessary.. 😉
I love Bendor Grosvenor!
Do you think those are hoods? I thought the difference in brightness had to do with the horses’ faces being ‘forward’ in the light. Either way, and I don’t say this to mean that I think the painting is a fake, but I don’t think a detail like a hood is too specific or real for a forger to consider. Especially if the forger was educated about the artist and familiar with their body of work — which, in this case, contains several renditions of this view.
Here are just a few (all with the three white horses):
https://www.wikiart.org/en/edouard-cortes/boulevard-de-la-madeleine
https://rehs.com/cortes_virtex.htm?page=23&key=7 (check out the horse faces on this one)
https://rehs.com/cortes_virtex.htm?page=89&key=7 (again, the faces)One thing that’s interesting about the original piece posted above is that it’s darker than any of the others I found. Cortes did various renditions of this scene, as I said, at all different times of day — but this one seems to be later in the evening than any of the others. So… is that extra awesome (which I hope), or is it a bad thing (in the sense that forgers often try to figure out what “should” exist and then create it… so, they invent a preparatory sketch or create a painting that has elements of two others and sort of links them.)
Anyway, cast your eyes over this page of hits and you’ll see what I mean. The OP’s painting would fit really nicely in this array, wouldn’t it?!
https://www.google.com/search?q=coulevard+madeline+cortes&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjOi9X_vsHhAhVEdt8KHT5eDx0QsAR6BAgJEAE&biw=1366&bih=657Wow, AJ!
I would love to hear more about your find. I assume you’ve done the research, but it looks like Cortes did several renditions of this view, which is of the Boulevard de la Madeline. I don’t know a ton about Cortes, but I do know that he’s a favorite of forgers. My fingers are crossed for you — I love the piece.
