Antique Oil Painting - $5 turned into $5000

[1treasurehunter1]

Hey everyone,

Well it looks like I may have hit a home run in the art category. I have been buying art here and there, sold one antique watercolor (paid $20) for $200 at a local auction and an oil (paid $30) for $300. Found many others and made $10, $20, $30, $50, $100 profit etc.. nothing major, until now.

I bought this at a local estate, it was hanging on the wall and it looked old to me. Looked at it closely and could see that it was signed with only an "M". I paid $5.

I brought it home and removed the backing to find a name written in pencil on the back panel "Martin Monnickenadm". A Dutch painter. Known for painting Jewish themes.

Looked up the prices his oil paintings bring and was pleasantly surprised. The last time an oil of his, similar to the size of mine, sold in 2003 for $3500. His larger ones go for several thousands to tens of thousands at auction. I'm thinking I could get $5000 if I consign it to a gallery?

I need to get this painting checked out. The only thing that concerns me is that every single one of this paintings I could find on google show he signed his full name but mine is only signed with an "M". I dont have full access on lets say findartinfo.com to look at pics of signatures. Can anyone help?

HH everyone.

 

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[inspectorgadget]

Cool find! I try not to pay much mind to what things sold for 10+ years ago as the market has changed way too much since then. Some things have risen nicely in value & some things have dropped like a stone. The M sig could help ya date it! I don't have access to findartinfo.com myself & don't know a whole lot about paintings but I always check them out to see if anything about one catches my eye. With a $5 investment even just getting $1K out of it would be tremendous! Hopefully it is what you think & it's worth what you think it is!

 

[1treasurehunter1]

Cool find! I try not to pay much mind to what things sold for 10+ years ago as the market has changed way too much since then. Some things have risen nicely in value & some things have dropped like a stone. The M sig could help ya date it! I don't have access to findartinfo.com myself & don't know a whole lot about paintings but I always check them out to see if anything about one catches my eye. With a $5 investment even just getting $1K out of it would be tremendous! Hopefully it is what you think & it's worth what you think it is!

Thanks for commenting. Yeah, in ten years the market has changed however recent sales of his oils (larger ones) have brought in well over $10,000. I hope it is what it appears to be. Fingers crossed.

 

[HenryWaltonJonesJr]

If you're looking to flip it send the pics to some auction houses, they will do some legwork for their commission and should be able to help you out with an estimate.

If they reply and use the word "decorative" at all try another house until you're satisfied as to the value.

 

[Army of 1]

Great score buddy , hope it turns out to be the real McCoy ..cheers Mick

 

[inspectorgadget]

What are the dimensions?

 

[1treasurehunter1]

What are the dimensions?

11 inches x 7 inches

 

[gino22]

This is a tough one. Could very well be one of Martin Monnickendam's. I would guess an early piece, gift, or private commission not necessarily intended for public display.

Unfortunately not one of his more compelling works based on what I am able to research online, so I would be skeptical of those huge numbers unless they are for very similar paintings (as in, single subject religious portraits)

Does the handwriting on the back panel resemble his mature signature?

I would try to assemble as much evidence as possible in support of Monnickendam and list on eBay as "attributed to" with a BIN/OBO that you feel is fair. You will find your biggest audience there. A gallery or auction house is going to be limited to a particular region in most cases, and may not be willing to do the appropriate footwork to get you top dollar. I just don't see this type of painting inspiring a bidding war, but name alone could get you far on eBay.

 

[inspectorgadget]

This is a tough one. Could very well be one of Martin Monnickendam's. I would guess an early piece, gift, or private commission not necessarily intended for public display.

Unfortunately not one of his more compelling works based on what I am able to research online, so I would be skeptical of those huge numbers unless they are for very similar paintings (as in, single subject religious portraits)

Does the handwriting on the back panel resemble his mature signature?

I would try to assemble as much evidence as possible in support of Monnickendam and list on eBay as "attributed to" with a BIN/OBO that you feel is fair. You will find your biggest audience there. A gallery or auction house is going to be limited to a particular region in most cases, and may not be willing to do the appropriate footwork to get you top dollar. I just don't see this type of painting inspiring a bidding war, but name alone could get you far on eBay.

Well said! It would have taken me hours to put those thoughts to words on here.

 

[1treasurehunter1]

This is a tough one. Could very well be one of Martin Monnickendam's. I would guess an early piece, gift, or private commission not necessarily intended for public display.

Unfortunately not one of his more compelling works based on what I am able to research online, so I would be skeptical of those huge numbers unless they are for very similar paintings (as in, single subject religious portraits)

Does the handwriting on the back panel resemble his mature signature?

I would try to assemble as much evidence as possible in support of Monnickendam and list on eBay as "attributed to" with a BIN/OBO that you feel is fair. You will find your biggest audience there. A gallery or auction house is going to be limited to a particular region in most cases, and may not be willing to do the appropriate footwork to get you top dollar. I just don't see this type of painting inspiring a bidding war, but name alone could get you far on eBay.

Thanks for commenting and your advice. A similar single subject portrait sold at Christies for $2800 in 2011; it was a chalk and watercolor (brings less than his oils) on paper and not an oil like mine. It was larger however. I'll give ebay a try however I do travel to Europe and can easily take this painting to a gallery/auction house in the Netherlands. It would be worth more there. The signature on the back is in cursive handwriting. I should contact an expert in the Netherlands.

 

[tamrock]

That's really cool. I've only picked a painting once and sold it. It was a hunting scene of a dog in a corn field with a quail in his mouth. I gave $19.00 or so for it and it sold for something like $225. It was dated also around 1908 if I remember. It even had a hole punched in it the size of a quarter and I let it go as-is... How old would this painting be?

 

[jerseyben]

It is my understanding that art has really taken off in the last few years. I personally buy art any time I can get it cheap. Unfortunately I am pretty bad at it and keep buying some crappy paintings. Never sold any of my art.

The 2 paintings that I personally like are hanging in my "hobby room". I do like buying cheap posters, maps, flyers, advertising pieces, etc and then buying $5 or less frames and framing the stuff myself. I hang this stuff all over my "hobby room" to decorate.

 

[gino22]

It is my understanding that art has really taken off in the last few years. I personally buy art any time I can get it cheap. Unfortunately I am pretty bad at it and keep buying some crappy paintings. Never sold any of my art. The 2 paintings that I personally like are hanging in my "hobby room". I do like buying cheap posters, maps, flyers, advertising pieces, etc and then buying $5 or less frames and framing the stuff myself. I hang this stuff all over my "hobby room" to decorate.

Blue chip contemporary art and household names have taken off. Everything else has been weak.

Big part of the reason I advised going the independent route with this one: it would take a very specific type of auction to bring maximum value out of this painting, assuming it is real and has been professionally authenticated (a potentially steep expense before even getting to the auction fees). Would exhaust the eBay route before getting deeper into it, but that's just me. When I see a big name auction result for a similar piece of art to what I have, I am comfortable defining that as the maximum sale price on the best possible day, doing BIN OBO, and seeing what sticks.

There is some stuff that all evidence points toward being "good" that won't even budge at a 99 cent eBay auction, so a brick and mortar auction house might be the only effective way of selling it. The art market is completely arbitrary. But that's all part of the fun.

 

[mrbelvetron]

Email some detailed pics to Heritage Auctions in Dallas. They will definately let you know whether it would be considered significant and can probably network you with someone local that can check it out in person. In fact I would be surprised if they don't have a location in your area.

 

[Paleo_joe]

Killer find. I rarely buy art, but at an estate sale a couple months back a framed map on the wall caught my eye. It looked like China, but the text was Latin. So I threw down $20 on it. Turns out it was from the 1650s. Sold it for $300 or $400, I forget, and could have gotten more had I wanted to wait (I try to keep my money moving and don't hold inventory).

 

[: Michael-Robert.]

Great find. have it cleaned and restored. professionally. I think $10k would be reasonable.

 

[mugsisme]

Very cool find. Would you want the name of a Jewish gallery in NY that sells paintings? I can't remember it off hand, but can look it up for you.

 

[gino22]

Great find. have it cleaned and restored. professionally. I think $10k would be reasonable.

I see no need for cleaning and restoration at this point, the painting looks to be intact. Need better pics to judge.

Also, $10k? What makes you say that?

 

[inspectorgadget]

It's not a $10K painting I dunno what embreym is thinking or trying to say! I'd say best case for you is right around $2K to maybe $2.5K tops. It's rather small & plain compared to other pieces that have sold for good prices. There is one of his pieces that has been on eBay repeatedly (a watercolor that is smaller than your oil painting) & they can't get $550 out of it with free shipping. Going with a rough estimate of $1k to $2K is probably a much more accurate value estimation.

 

[1treasurehunter1]

Very cool find. Would you want the name of a Jewish gallery in NY that sells paintings? I can't remember it off hand, but can look it up for you.

Yes please, I'd appreciate it. Thank you!