Breweriana at Art Auctions

Breweriana at Art Auctions

My father-in-law is very interest in beer art.  Breweriana is the special name for beer related artifacts.  I’ve been watching for special pieces to add to his collection at art auctions I’ve been attending.

The first breweriana piece that I acquired for my father-in-law was a 1940s Lone Star Beer sign.  He was so happy with this find at the art auction that he asked me to keep finding him interesting pieces of beer history.  I think that finding breweriana at art auctions is definitely a commentary on today’s society.

I found another really old piece of breweriana at the very next art auction I attended.  It was another sign and it was from the 1930s for Ziegler Beer.  I was at an art auction in Wisconsin and had to ship that sign to my father-in-law by freight.

My quest for breweriana has taken me to some art auctions that I would not have ordinarily attended and I’ve met people that I don’t ordinarily meet.  I got into a bidding war with a Cajun man over a Jax Beer sign from the 1930s.  The auctioneer said that it was a piece of New Orleans history.

The Cajun outbid me at every opportunity.  I had a limit that had been set by my father-in-law and we were closing in on it when he finally stopped bidding.  I won that piece of breweriana at the art auction for eight hundred dollars.

The porcelain breweriana signs are showing up at art auctions all over the country.  I found another one from the 1930s for Supreme Beer that was double sided and oval.  I was really pleased when I was able to present that one to my father-in-law.

The tin breweriana signs are actually not showing up as often at art auctions.  I felt fortunate when I found one from the 1930s for Washington Beer.  The ceramic breweriana signs are much more commonplace.

After my first few purchases of breweriana for my father-in-law he decided that his taste really did run to items from the 1930s and 1940s.  I’ve tried to keep this in mind when I find new acquisitions.

I usually stay away from neon or illuminating breweriana.  I just don’t think it fits in with the feeling of my father-in-law’s collection.  The antique feel of everything is nice.  He has taken up beer making as a hobby since his wife passed away, so it is not a far leap to beer art collecting.

The Goetz Country Club Beer sign that I won at an art auction in Indiana was a little more chipped than the other pieces I’ve gotten.  I was intent on winning this sign because Goetz was my father-in-law’s mother’s maiden name.  He was so happy with this old piece of breweriana because of the name on it that it instantly became the centerpiece of his collection.

I found two pieces of cardboard breweriana at an art auction in Ohio.  I decided that they were going to sell so cheaply that I could buy them and frame them for the collection.  I’m glad I went to that art auction.

I won a sign for Velvet Beer and another one for Stratford Beer.  They both were from the 1930s and they were more colorful than tin breweriana signs that I’d purchased at other art auctions.  The framer that I used framed both pieces for fifty dollars.

The art auction that I attended in Rochester, New York turned out to be very fruitful for my father-in-law’s breweriana collection.  There was a Standard Dry Ale reverse painted glass sign up for auction.  The sign had hung in a bar until the 1960s when the bar closed down.

The most recent piece of breweriana that I bought at an art auction was an original prohibition era Miller High Life Brew sign.  The red and black sign looked great on the wall with the other signs in the collection.  My father-in-law plans to build an old-fashioned bar in his home, at least the decorating is complete!

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Books about Dale Chihuly

Books about Dale Chihuly

Books about art sell well in art auctions.  I have found many publications that feature my favorite artist, Dale Chihuly.  There are books, catalogs and even magazines routinely up for auction.

Chihuly Gardens and Glass is currently for sale in several art auctions.  This book is beautifully illustrated and shows installations at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago.  The book has an essay by Barbara Rose addressing Dale Chihuly's place in art history.  There is another essay by the Garfield Conservatory director that provides a history of garden conservatories

Chihuly at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew features more than one hundred photographs that captured this event.  An art auction for this book sold for fifty dollars.  The exhibit at the Royal Botanical Gardens was Dale Chihuly’s first botanical garden exhibition outside of the United States.

Chihuly Seaforms has an excellent value at an art auction.  It depicts forty four color photographs of his most ethereal series to date.  The pieces he created for this series have been called not only "reflections of skill, passion, teamwork and sheer genius" but also "tributes" to the sea.  He is truly a master.

Chihuly Form Fire was published in 1993 and it only occasionally shows up in art auctions.  The book is hardcover and 144 pages long with over 75 color reproductions of his splendid work.  There is a very informative commentary in the book about Chihuly’s career.

Chihuly has been exhibited all over the world and the accompanying catalogs sell for a lot at an art auction.  The catalogs have a value to people that cannot possibly afford to ever own an actual piece of his art.  I bought a catalog at an art auction that depicted his installations from the years 1964-1992.  I have spent a lot of time looking at the photographs and have determined that Chihuly is pure genius.

I really want to find a copy of Chihuly Jerusalem 2000 at an art auction.  The book sells new for fifty dollars.  I think that the story of this journey and exhibit is extraordinary and I want to own a copy of this book.  This book contains 117 full-color reproductions and from what I’ve seen they are all extraordinary.

I was surprised that even the book of Chihuly’s drawings has tremendous resale value at an art auction.  He is able to convey such beauty and energy with his work and these drawings actually do the same thing.  These drawings are what his ideas start out as before they are fully realized in glass.

There is one inexpensive Chihuly book that I rarely seen in art auctions.  It only contains 17 color reproductions.  It does cover the installations that had 20,000 pounds of ice.  These were called the neon-and-ice installations and they had a powerful effect on the people that viewed them.  This book is soft cover and it is better to buy it new from a website than from a previous owner at an art auction.

I’ve lost countless art auctions for the book that contains photos of his exhibit at the Marlborough Gallery in New York City.  I just never bid enough.  At some point, I will probably just have to bid more to win it from an art auction.  I know that the 51 images are dramatic, but the book is a soft cover and I just don’t think I should pay $25 for it.

My mother won a Chihuly book for me at an art auction last year.  It chronicled the installation in Japan at the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art in 1990.  I loved each and every one of the 54 images contained in this book.  I have been asked several times to loan it to friends, but I have refused.  This is one book that I refuse to lose.

In 1986, Chihuly was only the fourth American to get a solo exhibition at the Louvre in Paris.  There was a soft cover book published with 33 photos in it that chronicles the exhibit.  Also in the book is an introduction written by the chief curator and director of the Centre du Verre.  This is the next book I hope to own and I’ve been watching art auctions hoping to see it pop up.

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Art Poster Auctions

Art Poster Auctions

Art poster auctions are very popular.  Owning great pieces of art has gotten easier.  A properly framed art poster can be as nice as owning an original painting and it is far less expensive.

I have found many different art styles in art poster auctions.  The most expensive art poster in the abstract style sold recently on eBay was a 1959 Picasso entitled Les Menines.  The poster sold for $560.00.

There was an original and authentic art poster auction recently in the art deco style that caught my eye.  The poster was from 1961 and was for Breakfast at Tiffany.  The poster sold for over three thousand dollars.

World’s Fair art poster auctions seem to do very well.  I saw an auction for the 1939 New York World’s Fair that sold for more than fifteen hundred dollars.  There was another art poster auction for the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair that went for just under fifteen hundred dollars.

In the Asian art poster auction market, there seems to be some really odd things.  I found a poster that depicted McDonald’s hamburgers invading Japan.  The poster got fourteen bids from six different people and it closed at four hundred fifty five dollars.

In the category of Impressionist art poster auctions, I found one for the 2006 Jazz Festival in New Orleans that sold for over four hundred dollars.  It was done by a Cajun artist named James Michalopulos and featured Fats Domino.  The colors in the poster were brilliant.

I found that the category of Modern art posters seems to get the most auction listings.  There is one art poster that keeps being re-listed because it just doesn’t sell.  The poster is from the Elvis movie Love Me Tender.  Apparently the owner of this poster has determined that it is worth one thousand dollars and will not take less than that.  He hasn’t sold it yet, but I wish him luck.

There were another Modern art poster auctions that really did well as far as I could tell.  They were Greyhound travel posters.  There were a couple of art poster auctions that sold recently.  They were both created in the 1950’s and both of the posters sold for around three hundred dollars each.

After researching so many art poster auctions, I have come to the conclusion that my parents and grandparents should have collected every piece of advertising they ever came across.  They would be worth a small fortune by now!

The Sante Fe Railroad as a subject is prominently sold in art poster auctions.  These must be highly collectable because they generate a lot of bids.  If the art poster auction is for an old original poster of the Sante Fe Railroad, it will fetch upwards of four hundred dollars.

I found an art poster auction that was listed by the artist himself.  He made a black ink drawing for the Pearl Jam concert in Rome in 1996.  This original drawing was what the poster was made from.

Pop art poster auctions cover a lot of different topics.  One of my favorites was a 7-up soda advertisement from 1970 that featured The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine.  The item did not sell, but it was fun to look at.

In the style of Realism, art poster auctions abound.  I found one that was an advertisement for United Airlines and depicted the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.  This poster sold for over one hundred fifty dollars.

The most interesting art poster auctions I found were for rock concerts.  I liked the one listed for at 1956 Rolling Stones concert and there was another one for a Grateful Dead concert in Hawaii.  They sold for a combined total of over seven thousand dollars.  The interest in these art poster auctions was overwhelming.

Advertising seems to be a big theme in the art poster auctions that I looked at.  I found advertisements for just about everything.  I liked the poster for Russian beer that was created in the late 1920’s.  It would look fantastic framed in my neighborhood bar.  The buyer of this particular poster bought it for $475.00.

Concert posters are fun to look through.  Art poster auctions feature a lot of posters for concerts.  I found one that was made by Jim Pollock for a Phish concert in 2000 in Hartford.  I liked it, but I am not a fan of Phish and the three hundred dollars that it went for seemed a little pricey to me.

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Art Glass Paperweights

Art Glass Paperweights

I have a shop that sells art glass.  My favorite art glass is paperweights.  I have a lot of fun attending art auctions and buying art glass.  I try to pay attention to what my friends and clients like and dislike.

I usually give people art glass paperweights that I find at art auctions for milestone birthdays and anniversaries.  My grandmother turned eighty last October and I found a wonderful art glass paperweight for her.

The art glass paperweight that I found for my grandmother was made by Baccarat.  I was extremely lucky that this was one of the last things auctioned.  A lot of people had already left the art auction when this item went on the block.  My grandmother appreciated the pansy design because the pansy is her favorite flower.

My cousin loves frogs.  She has managed to decorate her home tastefully with her favorite item.  I have been on the lookout for an art glass paperweight for her for years.  I finally found one at an art auction I was at last year.  The art glass paperweight featured a frog sitting on a lily pad and the frog was surrounded by blue water.  It was really pretty and my cousin started using it on her desk immediately.

My aunt collects art glass paperweights.  I have been asked by her on numerous occasions to find pretty art glass paperweights for her while I’m attending art auctions.  Of all of the pieces I’ve won for her over the years, one memory sticks out in my memory more than any other.

By far the prettiest art glass paperweight I’ve ever won at an art auction has to be one that features a blue and gold Macaw.  Rick Ayotte was the artist that created it and it was even featured in a book of his work.  He has created many lovely art glass paperweights.

I have an art glass paperweight in my shop that just won’t sell.  It has been in the store the longest and I think I may have it priced too high.  I won the paperweight at an art auction several years ago for one thousand dollars.  The paperweight was created by Paul Stankard and it should have easily sold for twice what I paid for it.

I have no trouble at all selling art glass paperweights that were made by Rick Ayotte.  His work seems to draw the most interest.  I try to win any auction I find for art glass paperweights he made.  I won one not long ago that was pink roses.  They looked so delicate and sweet.  I know that this art glass paperweight will sell quickly.

There have been some inquiries at my shop for art glass paperweights by Richard Marquis.  I haven’t found any in any of the art auctions I’ve attended recently.  I looked at some of the pieces he’s made and I’m not especially impressed.

I will keep looking for the art glass paperweights at the art auctions I attend, but I will not be going way out of my way to track them down.  I will just remember that Marquis is an artist that some of my clients are really interested in.  I’m sure that I will find an art auction with one of his pieces in it at some point.

There were some inquiries about nautical themed art glass paperweights a couple of years ago and I found a fantastic artist that made them.  I buy every art glass paperweight I can find that was made by Rick Satava.  My favorite has to be the coral orange jellyfish that I found at an art auction an hour from my home.  It was really pretty.

The coral orange jellyfish art glass paperweight was just the first Rick Satava piece that I’ve found at various art auctions.  I’ve also found jellyfish in ruby and blue.  They are beautiful by themselves or when they are put onto a black light stand that has been built especially for them.

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Art Auctions: Vintage Photography

Art Auctions: Vintage Photography

Vintage photography gives us a glimpse into the past, and helps to allow people to gain some understanding of the world before us.  Unlike many of the collections that are considered the staples of art collection, vintage photographs are truly a unique exploration of the recent past, and many eras of the current civilization have come to contribute their share of what makes up vintage photography.  Though not the largest grouping of auctioned materials of artistic value, they are still valued for their recollections of past events, and even items relating to vintage modes of photography are included in the auctioning of these things.

Cameras and equipment, photographic books and photo postcards before 1940, and even Viewmaster reels are acceptable pieces of auctioning material.  All these things have contributed to the overall history on film, and even as the motion picture took on a predominant role in culture, the photograph has still been a staple of this system forming the basis for it all.  Much of what seems to have the most value are those photographs that come from eras predating this revolution in film, and even further back to those images captured years just after the invention of the camera.  Some are standards to which we have become accustomed to considering is merely part of our past, and we have to know that these things also have worth.

It is with this in mind that one can better grasp the innate worth of the photographs that might have caught their eye, and to be most prepared for an art auction with vintage photographs as the focus a bit of research is in order, especially if you wish to get the most out of your money for a proposed purchase.  Much as any other auction, the buying and selling of vintage photographs can done in a variety of places, and that even includes through the Internet.  Today, the markets are wide open with many different examples from previous eras, and finding that photograph that can really capture your attention can be a difficult process well worth the effort.

There are many organized auction houses that conduct business every day, which could perhaps be of service for you and your needs for the art you choose to become more aware of, and you can learn much by consulting experts on such matters.  For the most part, buying and selling art through auctions can be an easy process with the right amount of time and money spent in the right places, and you can always go back to your research when you happen to feel overwhelmed by how complex the bidding can get with these types of experience in life.

It is when you are considering the value of a piece that you already own, that consultation with an appraiser can be of much help, and the more professional ones will go out of their way to get you the best total for your items.  When concentrating on just what you want, you be better adapted to finding those needs met more adequately, and you will have no need for fearing the system of rules when it comes to the art auction.  The more research that you commit yourself to, the more worth your time it becomes, and the more you can have your money work for you.

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Art Auctions on eBay

Art Auctions on eBay

I’ve been looking at art auctions on eBay all day today.  I have found some wonderful things.  I browsed the Art category and chose the subcategory of self-representing artists.

I like what I see for sale.  Art auctions on eBay are a great way for an unknown or even a known artist to sell their paintings.  I found some nice paintings in the featured section.

Since I was looking at art auctions on eBay, I used the option to just view the picture gallery.  I’m glad I did that because I really just wanted to see the art, not the title of the auction.  What immediately caught my eye was all of the bold colors.

On the first page of image results of art auctions on eBay, there was a beautiful painting of a martini.  I think that martini images seem very classy to me.  I can visualize this painting in the home of someone with a glass coffee table and a leather couch!

The virtual foot traffic that art auctions on eBay gets is incredible.  The artist can get so much more exposure to so many more people than hanging their paintings in galleries.  It is just such a good way to get discovered.

I did think it was a little funny when I saw art auctions on eBay listed for 99 million dollars.  The artist wants to make history by breaking the world record for the most paid for a painting by a living artist.  The record is currently forty million dollars.

There was another art auction on eBay that really caught my eye.  The artist was Kelly Shanks and she lives in Boston.  The painting that I saw was done in an impressionist style and called Neon Rain.  It is part of her New Orleans series.  I liked it a lot.

I found an art auction on eBay for a painting entitled The Egg Eaters.  It was really odd and didn’t exactly suit me.  I tried to imagine where it would end up hanging.  I think that fantasy art just can’t hang everywhere.  I can see this hanging in an upscale gaming store or in a bachelor pad.

The funniest art auction I saw on eBay was for a folk art rendition of a Jack Russell terrier.  I can only imagine that a dog lover should own and display this.  The dog looks like he is about to jump up on me!

I found a landscape that I really liked when I was looking through the art auctions on eBay.  The piece was called Red Barn under Praire Clouds.  I think that if this was hanging in my bedroom, I might never get out of bed.  I love to watch clouds.

I guess I just don’t understand abstract art.  I think if I understood it, I could appreciate it.  I found an art auction on eBay for an original painting called Beige Dancelines #2.  The artist says that it is an abstract dancing figure.  I just can’t see anything but an oversized ear.

There were so many photos to look at when I was searching on eBay for art auctions.  I think that my tastes really run to realism and landscapes.  I especially liked a painting of Alaska by Hunter Jay.  The blues in the picture were really nice; I’ll bet that this painting is wonderful in person.

My mother-in-law has been decorating her house slowly.  I found a really nice art auction on eBay for her that would fit her likes.  The painting depicts a tree at sunset and is just beautiful.  The artist has a lot of auctions and I really hope that she sells a lot.  She is very talented.

The only other art auction on eBay that I spent a lot of time looking at was a painting of red tulips against a yellow sky.  I’m not sure why I was so taken by this painting.  Tulips are my favorite flower.  The tulips in this painting are just suspended in the center.  They just seem to hang there magically.  I really liked this depiction of my favorite flower.

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Art Auctions: Grotesque Art

Art Auctions: Grotesque Art

That there is an overwhelming number of pieces that represent this particular grouping of artwork seems false to believe, but this is happens to be on the rise as we get further into the new millennium, and realize the shedding of our culture’s skins time and again.  Grotesque artwork pulls us back into the human forms we have been born into, and truly seems to give us a reaffirming sense of who we are.  There are many artists, though part of other artistic movements, which have proven to fill the criteria for this grouping of concepts.

Grotesque art from the past ranges from varying degrees of mood and theme, but always seem to draw from those factors that are widely considered by most to be taboo or dark in nature, adhering to some of the most brutal and thought-provoking events in history.  All these things have come together to create a body of works that jump between particular eras, but seem interrelated in the subject matter that they portray, creating works that define the morbid attentions that we seem to take from our history as a whole.

Through the works of such famed artists as Picasso and Goya, the light within the darkness of our own human condition can be revealed to us, and these reflections of our culture are seeds to the future as the culture has evolved.  Many differing movements each seem to donate their own unique spin when considering these peculiar models of work, and the theme of horror and terror can be interpreted by my different people many differing ways, no matter whether today or some era further behind us.  For some cultures, it is a way to evacuate fear, and express it without harm to one’s emotional health.

Though morals may seem to be too constrictive today, there are still points where society converges on points that break past the emotional barriers that many people construct, and this art is very much a mirror for evoking an honest reaction at the reflection that stares back, a response that cannot be replicated any other way.  These images more than affect the rest of the present day world, as can be heard in many recent dimensions in music, and related themes can even be found in today’s popular attraction towards the horror films and novels which sell more than ever now.

It is when you consider the works of artists possessed by a certain vision, one that evokes pain as well as passion along with the other contradictions in life, and it is then that historic works like those of Hieronymus Bosch and even modern designs of H. R. Giger can be learned in equal measure of value.  Their predilections towards breaking the taboos enforced by their surroundings, has helped to guide us steps into the future of our own acceptance and appreciation for our world, and the layers of depth can be revealed when one takes the time to find those elements that appeal to the sense of artistic worth.

To take control of your knowledge of this kind of artwork can better equip you for finding the particular works that you would be most enthusiastic to own, and though most of the more famous works can only be bought as prints, there are still many artists today who practice a style that intrudes upon that thin layer on the surface that reveals the most visceral layers underneath that.  When looking for the right work to suit your tastes, a good deal respect must be given to those that attempt to translate their thoughts onto canvas, and you can come to better understand this category of art when approached with an open mind.

Today, some works by the artist Joe Coleman have more recently pushed the boundaries further back, and smashed a lot of preconceptions of artistic will.  His approach includes the use a single horse hair brush, and detailing so fine that many layers can be found after viewing the paintings and prints dozens of times over, creating a new perspective on it with each consecutive viewing of the work.  It is these layered degrees that artists strive for time and again to reveal insights into the nature of what it is to be human, and allow us to get in touch with sides of ourselves previously unknown or held back.

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