Who's More Expensive?

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Q: I collect furniture from the 1940's and 50's. I do a pretty fair amount of buying at collectibles shows and from stores that specialize in this time period. I've held off on the art so far, but many of the dealers have paintings and sculptures that also date from the period. What sort of questions do I need to ask before buying this art? What's the difference between what they have and what galleries have? Who's more expensive?

A: Learning about art is similar to learning about furniture. With furniture, you begin by finding out who made it and how old it is. With art, you find out who the artists are and when the art dates from. The next level of questioning parallels learning the histories of furniture designers and manufacturers. You want to know when and where the artists lived, worked, exhibited, how significant they were, what they accomplished, and how much their art currently sells for. In other words, how good is it and do the artists have collectible track records?

Regarding where to shop for art, keep in mind that furniture dealers tend to know more about furniture than they do about art. If you're a serious Herman Miller collector, for example, you want to buy from a furniture dealer who specializes in that company rather than from an art dealer who may get a piece or two of Herman Miller furniture from time to time. Likewise, experienced art collectors patronize art galleries rather than furniture dealers.

Since you're getting serious about art and you don't know that much about it, you should probably begin by shopping at art galleries that specialize in art from your favorite time periods. Be prepared to pay more, though, because they tend to deal in higher quality art and artists than what you see for sale at furniture dealers. The plus side is that art dealers are better informed, have better selections, more accurate pricing, and better overall perspectives on the fine art marketplace.

If, on the other hand, you're more interested in the look and are not all that concerned about how famous the artists are, buying at shows and shops as opposed to galleries is fine. You can still find reasonably good quality works of art at moderate prices. The artists may not be that well known, but shops still consider their accomplishments and sell pieces that illustrate the dominant themes and subject matters of the time period. This is not to say that you can't find occasional pieces of top quality art at collectibles shops and shows, but it's not likely and you really have to know what you're doing in order to make great buys. Buy art supplies, buy arts, buy clip art, buy fine art, buy modern art, buy original art, buy student art, canvas art for sale, clip art for sale, comic art for sale, contemporary art for sale, fine art for sale, fine art sale, fine art sales, folk art for sale, framed art for sale, framed art sale, garage sale clip art, graffiti art for sale, how to buy art, how to master the art of selling, how to sell art

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