Yard Sale $3.00 Picture... worth what?

[ranbethscards]

Last weekend I decided to hit a yard sale that I saw posted on FaceBook. They had listed antiques, but when I got there, there were no antiques. They did however have a few pictures that I thought would look nice hanging in the house.

Well, as it turns out... one of the paintings (Out at the Old Saw Rig by Les C. Kouba) was numbered (1352/2000) and autographed. I thought I got a good deal for the framed picture when I paid a whopping $3.00 for it.

Just for the fun of it I decided to some research for this artist. Check out these pictures and an Ad showing the prints for sale.

Wife says we are getting a better frame... and it is NOT going anywhere.

 

[Mike]

Saw a few of those on eBay, but none of them had the limited edition signature.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...t+at+the+Old+Saw+Rig+by+Les+C.+Kouba&_sacat=0

With a limited edition in the thousands, can't imagine it being highly valuable. One of the ebay auctions stated that the limited editions one sell for a couple hundred or so, but I'd take that with a grain of salt.

Can't go wrong with $2 on it, but re-framing it could get expensive depending on if you have a framing shop do it for you or not.

 

[Taliasen]

Nice pick up!

 

[NorthKorea]

I generally use the following rule for artist signed prints:

If the number made is in the triple-plus digits, it's worth what you paid for it. Unless your wife wanted it reframed BEFORE you told her it was worth $600+, I'd leave it in the original frame. I'd hate to see you spend $200 on a $3 print, bringing the probable sales value up to $150.

 

[ranbethscards]

We left it as it was... original frame... looks nice hanging about our bed in the master bedroom.

 

[Mike]

Good choice, I think the frame looks nice anyway. I've learned not to argue with the Mrs. on items of aesthetics, though, even when she's wrong.

 

[judyd]

I visited my cousin in Florida last winter...they live in the Tampa area. It was amazing how many yard sales there are in that area, and at that time of year. Of course, the temperatures were still pretty warm, in the low 80's, but she said it was too chilly for her to get in the ocean (well, the gulf--but it LOOKS like the ocean).

So we spent a lot of time going to yard sales and I found it incredible the amount of perfectly good furniture and household furnishings that were going so cheap!

My cousin and her husband live in one of the gated communities. She said it's nothing to find that someone has moved back north for the summer and left all the furniture at the mobile home they've moved out of. Just there for the next occupant.

She actually found a wonderful painting for her living room/den while I was there. It was gorgeous--and no more room in my suitcase to bring it back home.