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@Amatino: Yep you got it right. We don’t resell frames, I use them to frame my own work, my daughters work and loose prints that I have in my collection portfolios or find in the wild.
I will buy almost any frame that is a Structural Industries or a Neilson metal frame, Gold, Silver-chrome or black and use it for our work. Most metal framed prints come with either a glass or plexiglass sheet in it.
At our art supply house where I can buy at a deep discount, tax exempt, it usually will cost me 3 to 4 times more than what I can buy framed art prints for at garage sales.
I had a lady one time tell me after I bought a framed print for $4 that she hated to sell it because she loved the water color painting of the famous “Fox” theater here in Atlanta. Well I knew it was a reproduction and there were thousands of them all over. So, I asked her for a phillips screw driver and disassembled the piece right in her garage and handed her the print. She was so shocked.
All I said was I understand. I have loved the Fox theather’s interior for years and have attended plays, events and concerts there on “Ole Mo” the grand Wurlitzer organ and it was a gift for her.
That frame and glass would be about $35 to $40 my discounted cost, which I got for $4 and she got her lovely print back. Which she said she would go to Hobby Lobby and get re-framed. My wife, susan stated in the car later, well she will be in for a surprise and I replied “Yep”.
To give you a price comparison: A 24×30 matte black Neilson frame will cost retail 2 pc. of 24″ for $36.24 and 2 pcs. of 30″ at $43.29 retail. So $79.53 without glass. Then another $8.50 for glass plus tax = $88.03 then Labor on top of that and if you need a matt cut, you need to include that. So she will have to spend about a $100 ++ to get the print re-framed. I got the frame and glass for $4. š and do this all the time, when I can find them.
Also I find loose reproduction prints a lot and will buy them or posters, and will frame them up myself and sell them for more.
I am going to be listing some prints in a few eeks which the posters and prints all cost me under $15 each, I have already framed 6 or so up and will list them for about $75 to $150 each. I even have a few small ones already done this way listed in the store now, but the bigger ones are coming later.
Actually I have several portfolios full of real, silk screen prints, all pencil signed and numbered from my days of being hired to complete limited edition prints for New York artists that did not have the skill sets or equipment to produce their own work. I always arranged to get 10 signed “artists proofs” for myself as part of my payment.
>>> My wholesale cost on the re-framing the lady would pay over $125 for would be $18.58+$22.86 = $41.44 less another 10% to 15% if I catch a Sale, then tax exempt [for resale you know – wink, wink] for a total of about $35 to $37 and glass at about $5 and I french bevel cut my own mats, single or double.
Sorry, I should have stated a few more details. Sorry you went on a hunt that wasted your time.But empty frames by themselves doesn’t bring much as a resell, but has much more value to an artist who can find them in the wild for pursonal use or to frame up repro’s to give “added value”.
My rule of thumb is because I know that even at wholesale prices metal frames will run me $.39 to $.45 per lineal inch, if I can get frames in good, unscratched up condition for under $.20 per running / lineal inch I am in like flint. š And when I can find them for under $.10 or even $.05 like the example above I am in hog heaven.
AND YES, there are cheaper wood frames with mats and glass from Ikea or Michaels or Hobby Lobby, or Dollar General type of stores made in China with cheap wood, but I like the quality of Neilson Anodized Aluminum frames with good quality mitered corners, a tight fit and quality corner brackets. Just my preference.
Susan declares when I get framed pieces, “How many more frames do we need!” I always say, as many as I can get.
I also always buy art supplies and equipment whenever I can. Two years ago, I sold one of my older Grumbacher used pastel sets. Many of the colors were used down to nubs, many snapped in half and a few colors missing. Sold it for $125 [if I remember correctly].
Hope this all clears it up. unless you are going to use them yourself to frame art, this is not a pipeline.
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
On the 3rd pin, try “Brownie Pin” instead of Girl Scout pin. Looks fairly similiar to the ones I am seeing.
No clue of the others.
mike at MDCGFA
Hi and Welcome Craig:
I too have a MFA, major in contemporary abstract painting and printmaking. Master printmaker in Serigraphy and 35 years in commercial printing and fine art publishing in the screen printing industry. With experience in etching, collographs, stone lithography and of course litho offeset and digital printing.
Very interesting, I too did teaching as an Adjunct Faculty member back in the early 70’s before going into the printing business. As I have said before, getting an MFA in Fine Art along with $.50 will get you about a third of a cup of coffee. I was lucky to find a partner right out of grad school with whom we built up a very nice sized and successful printing company.
Looking forward to hearing about your finds and seeing how you come along with your store. 1,300 items is a nice size store and you should see some fairly consistent Sales.And as you said the flexibility is great. I do several things for income now that I am retired, but good luck along your journey and will be looking for you as you chime in on all the art questions.
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
You’re welcome. Guess everyone can see I had some time on my hands today, thus all the forum replies.
In case you may not know, in the Andrew Lloyd Weber movie, the Phantom of the Opera, when the main character descends into the tunnels under the opera house, he is advised to keep his head low. And on the walls as he descends the staircase there are arms-hands holding torches that are attached to the walls very similar to your concept pair.They are cool. If you keep them they would have to we wired and run to a switch or maybe you could get a ceramic sleeve to go over the socket area and then slide a pillar candle into the socket and find a glass chimney to go over it [sort of reverse engineer] it back to the way the ones are in the link I sent.
Good luck
MikeYou are perfectly welcome. Again, I didn’t want to come across as all negative, but trying to offer information for those who don’t know some of these things. I have a very strong background in art and printmaking.
You made me laugh with the following: “theyāre more discerning about the quality of crap they accept.”. LOL-Funny š A quality scale for “crap”. On a scale of how crappy is your crap. Slightly crappy, very crappy, makes me puke crappy, stinks to high heaven crappy, I wouldn’t put it in my house but I will sell it to you crappy, etc., etc.LOL š
Good luck with it buddy..
MikeDaisy: Out of 73 listings sold on Worthpoint, most with hands holding a torch only one listing has the fingers “open” and “not clutching” the torch stem with wrapped fingers. The pair of open finger ones also have a taper candle and glass globe above the drip catcher plate.
Unfortunately the closed fingered ones can be up over $1,000 and one at $1,500.
The only open fingered one sold at $195.99 BUT IT IS THE CANDLE AND GLASS GLOBE PAIR not ones with an electric socket.
Making a big assumption here, but maybe yours once looked like these [click the link]:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/unique-vintage-victorian-style-brass-469234398but got retro-fitted [altered] and converted to having light sockets. As to what that did to the real value, I wouldn’t know, but even so, as Ryanne says they are really “cool” and even though maybe converted, I would try to list at maybe the $195 or even $273 and then run Sales at 20% Off and take offers at up to another 20% Off. So at $273 list and either a 40% Off Offer and a combination of a Sale and an offer on top of that, you could end up at about $165 to $175 +/-.
But who knows. But in my opinion they are not in the category of the $750 and up pairs.
P.S. don’t think they are “forged” but the hands may be “cast” and the torch “turned”. And check to see if the metal is magnetic. If so it is steel or iron, if not then probably brass.
Good luck.
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atl
Happy [belated Birthday Ryanne. My daughter turned 40 in Nov. and she said to me sunday, I don’t feel 40, I still feel like a kid inside and have urges to do stupid stuff.
I told her we all do, but now she has enough sense and maturity to not go through with it.
Ryanne, hope you get to keep that “kid” inside and have fun with your life as it seems that you are, based on how you come across in the podcasts. Sounds like you and Jay just have a lot of fun doing this.
So welcome to the second half of your life. š
Mike at MDCGFA in Atl
@ Troy: Glad to hear they will build this in. That would allow us to accomplish what CraigsList Hunter is advocating within SixBit and set the end and relist with an allocation plan just on the Ebay Tab.
* I knew that the Etsy and Ebay Tabs were separate so that will be the key to selecting the 27 / 28 day end time frame on the Ebay Tab but leave the Etsy Tab to just do their standard 90 day rollover OR Maybe set Etsy to end at 88 days. That way we could be doing the same thing as on Ebay only instead of every 30 days, on Etsy will will happen every 3 months.
I notice after one of the more recent SB updates, that when I go and do a relist there is a selection to force a complete new upload, but there is not an allocation plan that I can see as of yet to do this automatically.
** OK that your desktop which is where you are acting as your own file server for SB is running is Win10. And that hers are. Then as long as the motherboards and chips are running at a PassMark Score of 3,500 or higher you are good to go. My old laptop that our helper was using was running at a PassMark Score of less than 2,000 and it was always stalling-hanging up. So I got a new laptop for them that clocks out at over 7,000 for a PassMark Score and it is smooth, speedy sailing.
As Jay calls these things “Robust Programs” and as such, a user has to have the fire power in a computer to run it.
P.S. SixBit has their new “Shopify” module in Beta Testing. I hope to see that roll out in the near future.
Looking forward to seeing you get back home soon and maybe we can do a phone hook-up agagin.
Take care buddy…
MikeGood morning:
Can’t make out the signature but do want to chime in before you expel a lot of time.I am assuming, after all we have talked about here on SL [which all is searchable], that you know you have an offset lithographic press printed reproduction and that the signature only exists on the original that was photographed and not on this “reproduction”. This signature is printed right along with the image.
If you use a magnifier of at least 10 power or higher and examine the print, you will see it was printed in the 4 color offset colors, most likely run on a 4 color, high speed printing press. You will most likely see that the only colors under magnification you will see will be yellow, red, blue and black. Then how are all the other colors appearing to you that you think you see. Well I have explained that whole process several times in the past about how the use of “halftone screens” [ben-day dots] break and image up into various size dots and varying closeness to each other to trick the mind and eye into seeing colors that are not there.
Then given these facts, being an offset repro, these presses run at about a minimum of 1,500 impressions per hours up to 7,000 plus sheets per hour. Given that most press set-up and breakdown take about two hours, most reproduction printers, after some market analysis will prefer to run a press for about 4 hours minimum. And if the print sells well, then they may do re-runs at later dates. So, there could easily be 20,000 plus repro’s of this out in the wild somewhere.
The paper that repros are usually done on are not archival quality, not even close. Most are commercial grade paper, and at 20,000 plus sheets per run, bought by the skid-pallet load. Most have a high acid content, are bleached white, have no- water mark and are around the 60 lb. sheet weight [about the thickness of 3 sheets of 20 lb. computer paper] and sometimes only 40 lbs. All have straight cut edges, which means it was cut using a guillotine paper cutter and many times cut two smaller sheets out of a larger sheet when originally bought for a better price. All the ink used in repros are non-archival and fade quickly, especially when exposed to direct sun with the red and yellow being the most susceptible.
If you have ever walked through antique malls or thrift store or even yard sales and seen framed prints that look mostly blueish / dark purplish in color? Well those are cheap repros, done in the 4-color offset process and the red and yellow has faded and left the blue [cyan] and black behind.
Now add to this the fact that the print does not have any pencil signed, titled or date information which would indicate a smaller print run and that the artist actually was present and at the least placed his pencil marks [his own name, a title for the work, and especially a date] with his own hand acknowledges his presence at the print shop for a part of the printing mfg. process.
I can tell repros usually from several feet away and with a loupe even more can be discovered.
Most [but not all] are not worth much more than the paper they are printed on. I very often will by framed prints, pull the backing off, pull out the print, throw it away and then use the frame for another work or one of my own works. I have a studio of about 50 or more frames right now that I have stripped out and dumped the cheap repro that was framed. The frame and glass can bring way more than the repro that is inside.
So, I am not trying to bash the print you have but want to help you start out with a proper approach to discovering what you have first before investing a lot of time research who the artist is. Even if it turns out to be a known artist, it is not an original of any kind and not a known fine art printing process that is recognized in fine art circles.
I am offering this just in case you start on doing a lot of research, to save you some time, I strongly suggest that you get a loupe, even a 6 power jewelers loupe or a 6 power linen tester, they can be found at Michaels, Dick Blick, or your local art supply store. Keep it with you and use it out in the field. Susan and I both carry ours with use all the time.
Good luck with finding who the artist is, but first I am suggesting you find out what you have and again no offense is intended or implied. Just trying to help.
Also, I suggest you search both the old SL Blog and the newer SL Forum using terms like reproductions, 4 color process art print, repro art prints, etc. and read up on a lot of information we have covered in the past.
Good luck and will watching to see what you find.
Kindest Regards,
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine ArtGood morning Daisy:
Try this link and see if you can find a close match. If you find a match and want to know the price(s), let me know and since we have a subscription, I can give you the prices.
https://www.worthpoint.com/inventory/search?query=wall+sconces+hand+holding+torch&category=
Good luck..
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
@Sharyn: Howdy.. Senior moment here, but isn’t Ebay going to force Free returns as SOP sometimes this Summer for every seller or some variation of it or something like that?
mc
Howdy: yeo you hit on the point that is was before Ebay did the rollover to everything being good until canceled. And if you listen to Craigslist Hunter he also was tracking where his items were showing up in the search results rankings. He was staying up on the first page back then also, but he was doing all of this manually by doing 7 day, then ending, then 10 day, then ending, then 30 day and then ending. He also points out that they tweaked the listings each time slightly, and did a major edit at the 30 to 60 day mark.
Also he points out that with more higly comepetive items it is more important to utilize this process.
Another intersting thing is CLHunter has a large following and access to several pals who run stores larger than Jay and Ryanne and they all reported a big drop in Sales and as a team, he seem to indicate they worked on this together and they saw Sales return to the pre-Ebay GTC implementation.
He states they tracked large percentage decreases in there stores right after the GTC rollover and all their ability to do the 7-10-30 day end and relist process was no longer and option. So now they just do the same as before, but have to catch it right at the end of what they have paid for [like the 28th day] BUT BEFORE Ebay does a rollover relist with the same ID number. A monthly auto rollover within EBAY’s GTC process will not create a new listing ID.
These guys were getting new ID every month, even 2 or 3 times a month and were selling a consistent amount. Then GTC kicks in and BAM, Sales tank and for numerous months in a row. Then they go to the let’s end these prior to Ebay rolling them over, get a new ID number and then Sales bounce backa dn continue for several months. Doing this makes Cassini see them as new.
The drop he states in the video was a 24% or more drop and a few even 50% drop in Sales. Then to implement this process and see that percenatge come back is pretty good.
All of this applies of course to the SL members who are reporting a drop in Sales over several months. And to implement this strategy each and every item has to be identified as to when it was created and then ended a day or two before Ebay does it. That would require a software program to do it for thousands of items. It will take one whole month just for the first cycle to complete itself. So many items ending each day, until you have gotten every item in your store ended and relisted with a new ID number. Then that would need to repaet itself for several months to see the results.
Luckily CraigsList Hunter did a lot of this but he doesn’t mention if he and his staff did it manually and continue to do it manually.
I am trying to get SixBit to do it automatically.
Troy [T-Sat already has SixBit doing this to some degree several months ago] but I see his allocation plan is slightly different than mine, so I am having the SB team work on it and I am also waiting on Troy to get back from Montana to work on this with him.
But to see sales drop 25% to 30% for several months in a row, then to implement a process and see those sales bounce back up as a result of that type of manuver and stay there. I am pretty impressed.
For a more definitive test, i would ask CL Hunter to stop the process for 3 or 4 months staright and see if sale plumment agagin and then re-apply the process and see if he can repaet the increase back up. That would be the final convincing test for me.
In other words, do the whole thing over a second time and see if the same pattern and results are replicated. Then I would be sold 100%. But if SB will do it automitcally, then why not, it will be all front end work for me.
Good side thread we got going. LOL š
mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
Same exact listing as you say but with the brand new ID number and that is the secret. Ebay doesn’t know it is the same listing. It comes in new, doesn’t match the old ID number so it gets picked up as new. Ebay doesn’t scan all of the title, description and IS and says, hold on this is the same content as last time. But only sees this as new.
And as a kicker, there is a way in SixBit to have SB actually make an automatic change to the description and title by placing an “Append” or a “PrePend” text in the place or apply a new wrapper to the description area. {It’s a SixBit thing not worth explaining].
Another way of explaining it is that it is like you end a listing completely and state as the reason the item is no longer available. Then come back and do a “Sell Similar”. Same text-content just a new ID number.
Another thing to think about would be the listings with multiple quantities and Variable style listings. Unsure how those would work. With a multi quantity a new ID number listing would not show that at one point you had 24 of something and had sold 20 of them with only 4 left to buy. With a new ID number that would be gone. But i wouldn’t care because we mostly sell 1 of a kind items. About 95% and higher are all “onsies”.
We used to do something similar in WonderLister within the batch edit function.
Think so.It goes back to our old conversations that when you end a listing completely, Ebay retires the old ID number it assigns completely. Then when you do a fresh relist, Ebay assigns a brand new ID number to that listing and as far as the search engines go, it is a brand new item as if you just bought it yesterday and listed it for the first time today. And Cassini sees it as a new listing, you get the added exposure of a newly listed item. Pretty much they way a few of us have been it explaining it here on SL but was always in the relm of an opinion because a few years back no one did the experiment or were tracking stats the way some SL members do now and as CraigsList Hunter seems to have done.
What i am communicating to SixBit is to set an allocation plan in place to end each listing at the 27th or 28th day mark. Beat Ebay to the punch so to speak. Then have SixBit end all listings 27 days from the date they were created. Then come back and automatically relist the listing or at least put them in a SB folder where I can see which ones SB ended that day and then highlight all of them and click re-list and let SixBit take back over.
I think this part is being worked out now. But since we also use SB to cross post on Etsy and Etsy uses a 90 listing time frame, we don’t want SB to keep ending the listings at the 27 day mark on Etsy also. That would mean we would incure “triple” listing fees. $.20 each month instead of the $.20 for 3 months.
It is doable manually. I have already worked that out, but was trying to get SB to do just the Ebay part automatically and I would take care of Etsy manually based on the ended listing that get dumped into an “Recently Ended” SB folder.
mc at mdcgfa in Atl.
Just had a Whoa Nelly! Moment. For anyone that is doing a longer term āPromoted Listingsā campaign. I think you may want to check it out and see if you have this situation on your listings.
We usually run short Flash type sales and when we do promoted Listings we usually do it for a 1% over the trending average and run it for a month or so and then it ends, and we do it again.
Well we decided to do a longer time frame for Promoted Listings and do the same 1% over the trending average, but this time run it without and ending date by using the on āContinuousā until we would decide to stop it manually.
Well the thought just popped into my mind to go and check and I discovered something I had previously just assumed but was surprised that I was wrong.
For anyone here at SL that is running a long time period for Promoted Listings, go to the Active Listings on your seller dashboard. Then when they all pop up, usually about 200 per page [we have approx. 1,200 listings]. Then look at the column titled Promoted Listingsā and if you donāt see that column make sure you use the blue āCustomizeā link and click on āPromoted Listingsā to add that column to the page view.
Now as I looked at this column and scrolled down, I saw the following, which was not something I expected because of this assumption.I assumed when I started the Promotion about 3 or 4 months ago and selected that I wished to use the 1% over the trending rates that both numbers, the trending rate, as well as my 1% over that were both floating numbers. Meaning, If the rate went up, then so would my 1% above that trend go up accordingly. But I also assumed that if the rate went down, that my 1% above the trending rates would decline along with it. WELL, NOPE!!
Here are a few examples of what I am seeing.
Trending rate My Rate
6.3% 7.3% what I would expect [1% above the trending rate] BUT next the surprise,
5.7% 8.9% = 3.2% above the trending rate
6.2% 8.1% = 1.9% above the trending rate
9.8% 14% = 4.2% above the trending rate
6.7% 9.9% = 3.2% above, etc., etc.The first thing that pops into my mind is that while the trending rate will and does fluctuate up and down with the trends, that when I set the amount I wanted to pay for promoted listing [1% above the trending rate] locked in at that moments current trend rate and becomes a āfixedā percentage.
That means if the rates go up then I would guess as I originally presumed my rate would go up right along with it, BUT if the trending rate drops, then my 1% number sits as a āfixedā number and does not drop or lower as the trends go down. HuH!!
I would like to ask if any SL member is currently running a longer term āPromoted Listingsā campaign, that you check this out and see if you are having or seeing something similar. Have any of the trending rates gone down while your percentage, if it was ātiedā to the trend rate such as a 1% above trend, is āstuckā at the original percentage. If so, then I think we have an Ebay glitch that will need to be reported and fixed, unless I missed something or assumed the 1% above was a floating number tied to the floating up or down of the trend.
In the meantime, I am ending my Promoted Listing campaign and will start another later once we get some clarification on this.
Thanks,
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
