Oil paintings, portraits, watercolors, drawings and prints — signed or not — along with period gilt frames and mirrors. Send us the front, the signature and the back, and we'll tell you what you have and what to do with it.
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A signature is the beginning of the research, not the end of it. We look at the picture first — quality, subject, period, condition, frame — and then at the name, the labels and stamps on the back, and what comparable works have actually sold for. When a painting turns out to be by a listed artist with an auction record, it usually belongs at a specialist sale rather than across our counter, and we'll say so and place it for you. When it's a good anonymous portrait with presence, it belongs on our wall, and we'll make you a fair offer for it.
Half the story of a painting is on its reverse: gallery labels, exhibition stickers, old auction lot tags, inscriptions, canvas stamps, the stretcher construction. Photograph the front in even light without flash, the signature close up, the back in full, and any labels close enough to read. That's usually enough for a straight opinion by email.
Florida is hard on pictures: humidity, sun and salt air cause flaking, foxing on paper, warped panels and bloomed varnish. Old relining and restoration are normal and not necessarily a problem; recent amateur cleaning is. Tell us what you know, and don't attempt to clean or "touch up" anything before we see it — the same rule as silver and furniture.
For a house of pictures — a lifetime's collecting, or a wall of family portraits — we come to you, photograph and evaluate every piece, and give you a written plan: what we'd buy, what belongs on consignment, what belongs at auction, and what should stay in the family. That's part of our estate service, and it's free.
Yes. Quality, subject, period and condition matter more to us than a name. A fine anonymous portrait in a good frame is exactly what our decorator clients want.
Send photographs of the front, the signature and the back. We'll research it and tell you honestly — and if it merits a specialist auction, we'll say so rather than buy it cheaply.
Usually, from the style, the materials and the back of the board. Photograph everything and send it over; if it's the real thing, it's a piece we'd place at auction. More on Florida art in Fort Myers estates.
Original prints — engravings, etchings, lithographs, hand-colored plates — yes. Modern decorative reproductions, giclées and posters, no, and we'll tell you the difference.
Gladly. Period gilt frames are among the first things to leave the shop.
We buy single pieces and entire estates — antiques, silver, art, and furniture. Honest evaluations, free of charge and free of pressure.