Amazon Fine Art Sale Raise Questions

Yesterdays post on the opening of the Amazon Fine Art store has brought a lot of attention from concerned appraisers and collectors. Many of the comments have been that most (not all) of the art being offered are prints, and are very possibly being mis-cataloged at best. I hope this does not turn into another cruise ship type of situation, or as an appraiser commented, another eBay art market, which certainly would not be good for the collecting public or for confidence in the market.

From the posts and comments I am seeing, let the buyer beware. Also, as appraisers we must be careful when valuing art purchased from the likes of an Amazon, eBay or cruise ship art auctions as many of these items and how they are represented seems to be problematic.

Fellow appraiser Tony Pernicone, ASA of Avanti Fine Arts who specializes in fine art and prints, and is the author of Caveat Emptor!, Fakes and Frauds at eBay and other Online Auction Sites from the 2012 Journal of Advanced Appraisal Studies made the following comments on the Amazon Fine Art Store

glancing through some of the offerings on Amazon; in the High-End print category, I noticed several misleading listings, and potential fraud (I hope we don't have another EBay). For example, They show a Chagall from the Metropolitan Opera of "Carmen" as being the signed print at $35,000. The picture in the listing is the photo of the signed poster (with text) and that price is maybe around $5,000. The price for the limited edition signed and numbered print is the one for $35,000, and that has no text.

There was also a listing describing a Picasso as a Woodcut, when, in fact, it's a linocut, which gives me pause immediately. It might be a cutout from the Abrams book, and the seller didn't even know the proper medium.

There was also a Picasso from Verve, listed at $35,000, and again, described incorrectly (and as you and I both know, Verve pieces are in the thousands, not tens of thousands). I'm in the process of tracking down a responsible party at Amazon to let them know what's going on. All we need is another online venue (Especially one with the far-reaching effect of Amazon), to start joining the ranks of the groups I mentioned in my article for the Journal, and the problems with scams, fakes, and forgeries, will have doubled overnight.

And by the way, these listings were discovered by glancing at just three pages of listings, roughly 30-40 pieces. I can only imagine what else is on there. Keep in mind, like eBay, it appears the seller is being taken at their word and no vetting process for authenticity is being followed. There are certainly some reputable galleries among the group of sellers, but there are some that are suspect. Furthermore, the prices are no great bargains, if anything, prices were at least as high as gallery prices and in several cases higher.

 The Marginal Revolution blog states

Their Warhols are weak and overpriced, even if you like Warhol.  Are they so sure that this rather grisly Monet is actually the real thing?  I say the reviews of that item get it right.  At least the shipping is free and you can leave feedback.

I’ve browsed the “above 10k” category and virtually all of it seems a) aesthetically absymal and b) drastically overpriced.  It looks like dealers trying to unload unwanted, hard to sell inventory at sucker prices.  I’m guessing that many of these are being sold at multiples of three or four over auction price histories.  Is this unexceptional John Frost worth even a third of the 150k asking price?  Maybe not.

Amazon wouldn’t sell you a kitchen blender that doesn’t work, or that was triple the appropriate cost, so why should they sully their good name by hawking art purchase mistakes?  If you’ve built the best web site in the history of the world, which they have, you may decide that quality control should not be tossed out the window.  Much as I admire their shipping practices, what makes Amazon work for me is simply that they sell better stuff and a wider variety at cheaper prices.  Why give that formula up by treading into a market where such an approach won’t make any money?  Why compete in a market where an awesomely speedy physical delivery network means next to nothing?
Overall, I don’t see the advantage of Amazon over eBay in this market segment.  One nice thing about eBay is that you can see if anyone else is bidding and also that surprise quality items pop up on a relatively frequent basis, due to a fully decentralized supply network.  You also can hope for extreme bargains and indeed I have snagged a few in my time.  On the new Amazon project, supply is restricted to a relatively small number of bogus, mainstream galleries, about 150 of them according to the publicity.

 The Business Insider reports on the Amazon Fine Art store

Amazon's new Fine Art and Collectibles section just launched yesterday, and it is already getting less-than-stellar reviews.

One of the most vocal opponents is economist Tyler Cowen, who says that much of the art is low quality and overpriced. "It looks like dealers trying to unload unwanted, hard to sell inventory at sucker prices," he wrote on Marginal Revolution.

Most of the items by famous painters — including Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, and Joan Míro — are lithographs, made by a delicate printing process that uses oil and water on an aluminum plate to make copies. Since there are multiple renditions available, these are usually much less expensive than a typical painting.

Source: Business Insider

The Business Insider post also included some of the more humorous comments posted on Amazon about the Monet.  It now appears the Monet offering, which has been used as an image in many posts and articles, has been pulled from the site.

"USED? PAINTING HAS CRACKS!"
"For as much as I paid I'm a little upset that this isn't a new painting. You can see OBVIOUS cracks and I'm worried that the artwork has had several owners before me. I might return to Amazon if I can't get in touch with the seller. 1 out of 5 stars."
"stupid"
"BUYER BEWARE: THIS ITEM IS IN FRENCH. There is no English version. I purchased this product and couldn't understand a word of it."

"The meme has no caption!"
"Pros: Delivered as promised, packed well.

Cons: Stupid picture of some kid, and it's old. And the kid that painted it left their signature right on the painting where everyone can see it; ego much?"

Overall: This was a waste of money, I'll never buy any memes by this Jean woman ever again."

"Eww, as if"
"My friend Dionne advised me against buying a Monet, and I should have listened. From far away, it's okay, but up close it's a big old mess."

"THIS IS THE REAL THING, BEWARE OF "MANET" RIP-OFFS!"
"I've been a fan of Monet since the early days and this is a serviceable example of his mid-period stuff, not too fancy but gets the job done and gives an idea of what he's like for people who aren't ready to make up their minds about Waterlilies or Impression, Sunrise. But I really wrote this review to warn casual searchers that some bunch of opportunists are trying to rip off the unwary or inexperienced browser by flooding Amazon with their cheap replicas, under the confusingly similar name "Manet". Remember, it's "Monet", with the "o" that is the real thing. Apparently it's permitted by the Terms of Conditions for people to sell "Manet" product, as long as (when pushed!) they admit somewhere in the fine print that their "Manet" paintings aren't genuine Monets. Seems as unethical as hell to me, but I guess all we fans can do is warn the gullible."

"Amateur Hour"
"I was seriously considering purchasing this item, but I can't get beyond my suspicion that the artist doesn't know how to draw hands. The clumsy attempt to hide them behind a misshapen bowl just screams AMATEUR."