Finding Value in Donated Art

Volume 5 of Micro Category Tips

Jul 27, 2023

photo by the author of print, edited on Canva

Valuable art is sold in thrift stores every day for pennies on the dollar, often to someone that has no idea of its worth. The re-sellers trolling thrift aisles seldom look at the art walls. Maybe they will pick up a cool poster that they can flip but that’s about it.

It’s understandable, this category is complex, varied, and daunting.

A multi-million dollar thrift eCommerce operation that I toured has one person assigned to nothing but art. All hanging art donated to their retail operations is reviewed by this person first. They are an expert in their field.

My host was generally very open to sharing info. In this case, he wouldn’t share that person’s pay or even the value multiplier, which is clearly huge. I did find out they get a commission on sales, a great incentive.

They are also well beyond selling just on eBay or their own association’s website. Some of their stuff has ended up at high-end auction houses. All were donated in not particularly wealthy areas.

This proves once again how much value is missed every day in thrift stores across the country.

The art piece pictured at the top is a good example, it doesn’t look like much. It’s not very big, it’s yellowed in a well-worn frame. I ran across it at a Goodwill thrift store on the east coast in a bin of small pictures and picture frames for $3.99, I wasn’t even shopping for art.

Being from Kansas City, I recognized the Thomas Hart Benton (they love him in KC) abundance style, and it looked old enough to be from his era. It turned out to be a limited edition print by one of his students, it sold for over $200 on eBay.

Here is the challenge for thrift store operators, few can afford to hire someone like the operation I visited. They were well-developed with category experts in several areas. They didn’t get there overnight. By their admission, their first year or so was a hot mess.

You don’t need an e-commerce operation to get more value from art.

Where to start?

Start with anything with an actual individual signature on it. Like my example, it was individually signed, which was a clue. It can be framed art, a poster with signatures, or a signed jersey. If it has an original signature dig deeper.

Google is your friend.

If it’s framed art and it is numbered, dig deeper. Numbered usually looks something like 134/500. That means 500 were made, often lithographs, and this piece is the 134th printed and signed by the artist. There are also proofs and other versions that should be researched as well.

There can also be unsigned copies of limited edition art out in the world in any quantity that is mass-produced. Think Terry Redlin, he puts his work on about anything that will accept ink. Good for him, I am sure it has made him famously wealthy.

Not all signatures have financial value. We have an original oil of a barn scene hanging in our kitchen by an uncle of my wife. It’s nice hobbyist work, but its value is that it’s by a family member. Quite a bit of amateur art goes through thrift stores, which can be sellable at thrift store prices.

The thing about art is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I have watched many an episode of Antiques Road Show and thought I wouldn’t give a dollar at a garage sale for something worth hundreds or thousands of dollars. Really, value is in the eye of the beholder.

It’s about separating the wheat from the chaff.

I’ll get on my soapbox for a moment:
Producers have to be allowed time to research items that may have more value. So many thrift operators are obsessed with pieces produced over everything. Great, fifty paperback books boost pieces, but not dollars.
Back to our regular programming:

Some tips on canvas original art:

Good-quality frames often surround valuable paintings. Hand-carved and or gilded are a couple of big flags. Frames can be worth hundreds of dollars themselves.

Share thriftretailer

Some quick telltales:

Start with the back:

How dark is the canvas? Newer is normally lighter.

Is it on a Hobby Lobby stretcher, or something clearly older?

Wedges in the corners used to keep the piece properly stretched are also clues.

Are the nails or brads spaced evenly, or are there nail holes from their original stretching?

Front:

Do you see brush strokes

Magnified do you see dots, like a pinter will make?

Is it signed more than once?

Does it look old? Does the composition make sense for what it is?

Collectible art can be on canvas, wood, metal, or even plaster. Don’t dismiss something because the medium is unusual. The Mona Lisa is on a Lombardy Poplar wood panel and is only 30.1” by 20.87” (77 X 53 cm).