Painting Auction

I was on line the other day to purchase one more painting to place on the wall here at home (Since I moved to the new house I decided to give some of my paintings a rest and put up a few new ones). This site is a Goodwill thrift site that auctions the best of items people donate to it.

You would be shocked at how valuable some things are that are donated to charity. Often people don't understand the value or they are just tired of something of value and decide to donate it. I have found some nice paintings on the site.

Well, I book marked two paintings that I liked there and did research on them to see if the artist is famous and whether his paintings are valuable. In the case of one, the art work looked very much like that that of the famous artist, Winslow Homer. It was signed in print as H O M E R. Most of Homer's paintings sell for more than one million dollars! He is considered one of America's greatest artists. So I was skeptical that this Homer was the famous one.

After looking on line at the painting and comparing it to known Winslow Homer paintings, I saw that the art work being auctioned looked exactly the same and the subject matter was as familiar as real Winslow Homer paintings. But the signatures on most of the Winslow Homer paintings were in script. They did not match this printed one...until..I found one signature on a painting of his that was in print that "somewhat" resembled the Homer signature on the painting auctioned at the site.

Was it the Homer of fame or not? I am not an art appraiser so I have no idea. I waited to place a bid the last 30 minutes of the auction (It was to it end two days later). When I returned to the auction site at that time to bid I notice the bid was still the same as the one I originally saw, a small price of $33. So, I guessed the painting as not an original Winslow Homer after all.

But as the last 30 minutes of the sale for this painting wound down, two bidders started bidding on it wildly. First $150 then $750, then the other bidder posted a price of $1500 and on the bidding war went. I loved seeing it. By the time the auction for the painting needed, in the last 3 seconds one of the two bidders won the painting with a bid of $24,225! No doubt those two wildly bidding persons were art dealers or experts who judged the painting to be an original Winslow Homer oil on canvas.

Dealers always use that site to find valuable paintings at bargain prices. It was fun to watch and be reminded that there are jewels that might be found without much cost at one of those auctions.