Start with what the piece is. An original painting, a hand-pulled lithograph, an offset reproduction and a giclée can all hang in the same gilt frame and look alike from across a room. A loupe settles most of it: a regular dot pattern means a printed reproduction, whatever the signature says. In September we catalogued a framed Picasso that was a licensed IKEA print with the signature printed on the sheet, and a photograph whose own margin read that it was printed from a copy of an Ansel Adams photograph.
Then the signature. The same image hand-signed in pencil and signed in the plate can differ in value many times over. We price what we can confirm. When three Calder lithographs came to us this autumn, each was priced against what that image, hand-signed in pencil, had sold for at auction, not against what galleries were asking.
Names get misread, in both directions. A signature we were told read Journey turned out to be Andrew Shunney, a Nantucket painter of geraniums, and the correct name raised the price several times over. A canvas signed Millet is not by Jean-François Millet, and its listing says so in the first line, because a buyer will check.
The back of the frame is evidence. Framers' labels, gallery stickers, inscriptions and dates are often the only provenance a piece has, so we photograph the back of every frame. Where a sheet size or a platemark decides the price, the frame comes open: a photogravure can be an original portfolio plate or a later restrike, and only the paper says which.
We do not authenticate art, and we do not sell a piece as the work of a named artist when the evidence does not support it. Family history can still be told: a listing can say a work came down from the current owner's family without naming anyone. Art sells through our own shop, with the strongest pieces offered by inquiry so a serious buyer asks before they buy.
What the family receives.
- ✓A free walkthrough of the house, or a first look from photos of the front and back
- ✓A written quote before any work starts
- ✓Each piece identified by medium: original, print, photograph or reproduction
- ✓Signatures, inscriptions and frame labels photographed and recorded
- ✓Prices researched against auction sold results for the same artist, image and medium
- ✓Listings you approve before they go live, with inquiry-only pricing for the best pieces
- ✓A written record of what sold and for how much
Why VaultXL.
Sold results, not asking prices
Gallery and dealer asking prices are a ceiling. We price against what comparable work sold for at auction, including the buyer's premium.
We price what we can confirm
An unconfirmed signature is priced as unconfirmed, and we tell you which physical check would change that: opening the frame, measuring the sheet, a loupe on the image.
The back comes first
Labels and inscriptions on the back of a frame are the provenance most families do not know they have. We photograph them before anything else.
Family names stay private
Provenance can add real value. We state it in the listing without naming you or your relatives.
Where we serve.
Charlotte · Myers Park · Eastover · SouthPark · Foxcroft · Dilworth · Elizabeth · Plaza Midwood · NoDa · Ballantyne · Huntersville · Cornelius · Davidson · Matthews · Waxhaw · Fort Mill · Rock Hill
Start with a walkthrough.
A free walkthrough in your home, then a written quote before any work starts.
Frequently asked.
Look at the surface closely, ideally with a magnifier. Brushstrokes with raised paint, and paint that runs over the edge of the canvas, point to an original. A regular pattern of tiny dots means a printed reproduction. Some reproductions add texture on top, so the dot pattern is the better test.
A hand-signed print was signed in pencil or ink by the artist after it was printed. A plate-signed print has the signature printed as part of the image, so every copy carries it. For the same image, hand-signed impressions sell for far more.
No, and we will not pretend to. We identify what a piece is from the object and the research, state what we can and cannot confirm in the listing, and refer you to a qualified appraiser or the artist's foundation where a question needs a formal answer.
No. Cleaning a painting is conservation work, and done badly it removes value along with the dirt. Leave frames as they are; a period frame can matter, and its labels are evidence of where the piece has been.
Usually not. An insurance appraisal states what it would cost to replace a piece at retail, which runs well above resale. The descriptions in it are valuable to us; the figures are a different measure.
Every project is quoted in writing after a free walkthrough: a non-refundable setup fee set in your quote, and 15% of what sells after marketplace fees. You keep 85%.
