His article is well worth reading. It contains some excellent examples of locating the most common market, and also touches on transparency which is very important to the IRS. His premise is to ensure appraisers realize the auction market is not the only avenue available for FMV comparable property, and depending upon the artist, many times retail sales are more applicable. His article is titled Beyond Auction Sales: Selecting Fine Art FMV combarables.
The Journal is published by the Foundation for Appraisal Studies, and proceeds support the educational initiatives and scholarships of the foundation. Tony writes in the 2011 edition of the Journal of Advanced Appraisal Studies
Many dealers and art historians consider Picasso to be the greatest artist of the 20th Century, and the records bear that out. Of the ten most expensive works of art sold at auction, three are by Picasso and three are by Van Gogh. The remaining four are by Klimt, Renoir, Rubens and Cezanne. The top two are both by Picasso.
The total amount of sales of Picasso limited edition works (which include etchings, lithographs, ceramics, linocuts, and fine art books), at auction, over the last 20-25 years, are approximately 35,000.
Now, 35,000 is an astounding number. Until you consider that one example of a limited edition etching series by Picasso, specifically the Suite Vollard (or Vollard Suite), has a total of 25,000 print examples (that's without counting the proofs). When, you take that into account, 35,000 don't seem as many. Add in the fact that every limited edition that Picasso executed sold out years ago, (with many being sold and resold several times at auction), that amount diminishes even further.
Picasso was one of the most prolific printmakers in the history of art, and the Vollard etchings to an average Picasso print collector is probably the series most heralded and with which they're most familiar. The Suite Vollard, named after the publisher who commissioned Picasso to create it, Ambroise Vollard, is a suite of one hundred plates (etchings), executed between 1927 and 1933. The question of how many were signed, and in what color ink, would take too much time to discuss here. Suffice it to say it was executed (after steel facing), in editions of 250 unnumbered, and in some cases unsigned, examples.
Most books on Picasso prints discuss them, usually in great detail; and there are books that are devoted to only them. For those who are interested, the book of the exhibition of the entire series at the Instituto De Credito Official, in Madrid, Spain, held in 1993, is probably the most comprehensive. Not only is it an excellent source for reproductions of the entire suite. The text is a wonderfully written history of the etchings. Virtual-ly everything known about the series and what went into creating it is discussed. It even describes the types of papers Picasso used. And, unlike some other great tomes on Picasso, this one has an English version. It stands to reason that if you were going to be writing an FMV appraisal for an etching from the Vollard Suite, let's say, for charitable donation purposes; you would more than likely go to the excellent online databases that offer past auction records. You'll discover records which in some cases go as far back as twenty-five years, giving you an unbelievable amount of data.
However, since the purpose is current fair market value, let's start by looking at the records of the past year. There were approximately one hundred recorded sales of Vollard etchings from December of 2009 through August 30, 2010. If you go back a little further you would discover another hundred sales from December 2008 through November of 2009; approx-imately two hundred total sales in two years. (These are records from various auction houses [major and minor] throughout the world gathered from the databases artnet.com and artprice.com.)
ORDER TODAY!! - The Journal of Advanced Appraisal Studies - 2011. Click the button to order.
No comments:
Post a Comment