look-alikes and the opportunity to gain thereby

Hi All

Once in a while I create threads simply for brainstorming general ideas in the antique business so that we gain more clarity in our minds regarding this huge world by itself. This would help some of us to learn from the veterans here and the opportunity to see things from different perspectives. Newbies can also benefit early on.
My very first such thread was regarding the naming of antique Pickers
https://www.antiquers.com/threads/help-in-terminology.60300/#post-3829432

The second had to do about the pros and cons of being a generalist picker vs specialist picker
https://www.antiquers.com/threads/generalist-or-specialist.60914/

I got good ideas in both threads ,as we exchange and sometimes argued on both themes.

Today would be my third in the series and it has to do with the look-alikes out there in the family of pictures (prints and paintings) and the unique opportunities to exploit as pickers whether in thrift stores, flea markets, estate sales or even local auction houses. I have compiled some ideas from my personal field observation in past years ,from what I learned from veteran folks here in this forum over the years and from my general readings as well. The list is not complete and hopefully some more would be added from folks here as we exchange ideas. Also I do hope any flaw and wrong assumptions could be corrected in the ideas I present. Hopefully newbies will learn something new as well.
I will post the ideas in a second page

TTA

 

Hi All

Here are ten ideas ,hope to see exchange of ideas, possible corrections and further additions.

1.Certain types of early handmade lithographs (eg. the so called ‘French style’ chromolithographs created with translucent inks and also some early hand colored lithographs) highly resemble watercolors. As a result sometimes watercolors could be confused with such kind of lithographs hence one can take advantage of that to buy watercolors at the price of lithographs.


2.Certain types of early handmade lithographs ( eg. the so called ‘German style’ chromolithographs created with oil based heavy inks and mounted on a canvas backing or a board) could highly resemble certain type of oil paintings(eg. academy oils of the mid-19th with no visible features or textures). As a result sometimes oil paintings could be confused with such kind of lithographs hence one can take advantage of that.


3. Certain types of early handmade lithographs highly resemble crayon and chalk sketches. As a result sometimes crayon and chalk sketches could be confused as lithographs hence one can take advantage of that to get original sketches at the price of litho. prints.


4.The so called academy oils of the mid-19th with no visible features or textures could be misidentified as modern prints (eg Giclee prints) especially when they are on boards (it could happen by a seller who is only accustomed to see oil works with visible textures). One can take advantage of this confusion to spot and get genuine paintings at the price of prints.


5.Sometimes oil and acrylic paintings are done on paper and mounted on board. As there is the prevalent notion that only watercolor/gouaches, pastels and prints are supposed to be on paper, the usually higher priced oil/acrylic works could be misattributed for these works. Even if the average seller may be able to rule out water, gouaches and pastels based on their looks, he could easily misattribute the works as Giclee modern prints with texture added. Hence one can take advantage of that.


6.Sometimes oil and acrylic paintings could be under glass, and as this is not the usual norm it may give the wrong impression that they could be watercolor/gouache or even worse, modern prints with texture added. Capitalize on this confusion to gain advantage to spot genuine oil and acrylic paintings misattributed as prints under glass.

7. Gouache paintings resemble acrylic paintings and hence there is a potential for misclassification especially when dealing with acrylics on paper. All things being equal, in general watercolor/gouache works are less in value compared to Oil/Acrylic works. Because of that, a potential misattribution of acrylic works for gouache presents an opportunity to buy the acrylic for the price of a gouache.


8.Genuine old paintings with relined canvas could appear new when the canvas is seen from the back potentially creating the mistaken assumption that the work is a recent work or a fake. Hence one can take advantage of that.


9.Relined canvases of old paintings are normally stapled on the stretcher further giving another misconception of a modern work or fake (staples started to be used after 1900 while nails were used before that). Hence one can take advantage of that.


10.Sometimes genuine old paintings could be reframed using modern frames triggering the mistaken impression that the work is a recent work or a fake one. Capitalize on this confusion to gain advantage to spot genuine old paintings in new frames which have been misattributed.


TTA

 

Japanese woodblock prints are thrift store “kryptonite”, they never seem to figure out what they are.

 

With multiples you have to be aware that the medium can outlive its creator. Woodblocks produced mid-19th C can still be printed today. And those are real woodblock prints from original blocks. Copper plates, hundreds of years old, can still be printed today. And those are real intaglio prints from original plates.

Hogarth plates were printed until the plates wore out; then they were re-engraved and printed again.

Hokusai prints from the original blocks, printed using traditional techniques and traditional materials, can be produced today.

Amand Durand, in the 19th century, used heliography to reproduce prints from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries... intaglio prints reproduced using a photography-based intaglio technique. The differences are not immediately obvious, and even the Durand prints are now antique.

Books have been published documenting the printing history of Audubon images.

Experts can have a hard time telling the difference.

Modern printing techniques, like giclee, easily have eye-fooling accuracy. Is it a watercolor, or is it a giclee?

Collectors want prints that were printed when there was still input from the artist. Reprints (never mind reproductions) take an enormous price hit, and it's not simply a question of eye-balling a piece.

 

Even though there is a widespread public ignorance when to comes to prints, thereby allowing the opportunity to get original art prints at cheap prices, yes there are many variables at play as moreotherstuff mentioned. Besides restrikes from original plates, there is also the issue of coloring of original prints. With some colored prints though the prints were original from the artist hands, the colorings were added at a later time and some dealers and collectors do not like that.

When it comes to giclee it is a mine field especially for 'on the spot judgment' out in the field. But If one is able to distinguish gicless accurately somehow by just looking , it could be a gold mine for him as the misattributions could be in both directons...to the very least he could be protected from making a mistake in buying giclees as originals.

TTA