The most interesting trade offer you EVER got

[chromium]

Can we see some of your Dali art? I would've thought his stuff ran into the $100,000 on up range.

 

Depends what it is. Dali apparently did one stunt where he signed blank pieces of paper to pass off as 'pieces'.

 

Actually the last three years of his life Dali was a virtual prisoner in his own home and his wife/lover together with the nursing staff had him sign blank pages.

 

 

[chrisco37]

Actually the last three years of his life Dali was a virtual prisoner in his own home and his wife/lover together with the nursing staff had him sign blank pages.

 

"Tis true! Towards the end of his life, there were a ton of Dali lithographs produced. His signature is the only "legitimate" part of the piece. He had little or nothing to do with the plate selections/layouts, colors, etc....

 

If you are considering buying Dali art (and I'm talking litho's, not originals) , the earlier they were done, the better. There is some truly amazing stuff out there. Check out this site, and write them for a catalog (I think they run about $40):

 

Silverstate Art

 

Litho's will run you anywhere from 2K up. At the time I was looking for one, I believe there were some priced upwards of 25K.

 

As for Dali originals, FF is right. I doubt you could find anything for less than 100K. His paintings would go for even more. A true genius!

[fantastic_four]

I'm still interested in seeing dadaist's Dalis...even if they're simplistic sub-$100K "cheapies," it's interesting to see what kind of original art is still affordable from someone like him.

[chrisco37]

There's a huge amount of stuff out there then. He was definately one of the most prolific artists of the 20th century. When I saw the amount of litho's out there, it blew my mind. Literally thousands of pieces! I'll try and find the catalog I have and scan a few pages.

 

Did you happen to catch the "Dali: Optical Illusions" exhibit a few years ago at the Hirschorn (sp?) Gallery in Washington, DC? It was fantastic! Over 80 pieces (about 95% paintings, and 5% statues and "stereo-scope" pieces) of "classic Dali" (ie. double images). Truly impressive collection from various private collections around the world.

 

Chris

[garthgantu]

Have you heard about the cartoon that Walt Disney hired Dali to develop? It was detailed in the 10/03 issue of WIRED (p.73). It's called "Destino," and was shelved for 50+ years. Disney recently unearthed the materials, completed the project, and showed the finished animation at the NY Film Festival earlier this month...

[garthgantu]

As for my best trade, most of those occurred in gradeschool, so it's tough to remember specifics...

 

I do recall trading a ~VF Sub-Mariner (Marvel) #1 for a NM 9.2 - 9.4 (my grades, not CGC's) Iron Man # 1 back in high school... still have the Iron Man #1...

[mrwoogieman]

Actually the last three years of his life Dali was a virtual prisoner in his own home and his wife/lover together with the nursing staff had him sign blank pages.

 

"Tis true! Towards the end of his life, there were a ton of Dali lithographs produced. His signature is the only "legitimate" part of the piece. He had little or nothing to do with the plate selections/layouts, colors, etc....

 

If you are considering buying Dali art (and I'm talking litho's, not originals) , the earlier they were done, the better. There is some truly amazing stuff out there. Check out this site, and write them for a catalog (I think they run about $40):

 

Silverstate Art

 

Litho's will run you anywhere from 2K up. At the time I was looking for one, I believe there were some priced upwards of 25K.

 

As for Dali originals, FF is right. I doubt you could find anything for less than 100K. His paintings would go for even more. A true genius!

 

 

I used to work as a fine art auctioneer, and I can tell you the art market is just flooded with fake Dali's, for the reasons stated as well as other reasons. It's not just that he signed blank pieces of art paper and sold them, not just that he signed blank pieces of art paper and had his STUDENTS draw above his signatures and sell them as originals (those are Dali's own greedy tricks).

 

In addition, however, throughout the 1980's his North American licensed distributor (Leon Emil out of New Jersey) also fraudulently printed thousands of Dali lithos and prints, forged Dali's signature and fabricated multiple limited edition series and flooded the market. Emil had the plates to make the prints/lithos, but he didn't have Dali's detached signing hand! This licensed distributor was shut down by the federal government, but died before prosecution. However, that didn't stop his widow and daughters from selling more phonies until they were indicted as well. The problem with any secondary sale source is that that primary source was compromised so severely it is more likely than not that a particular piece is a phony, even if coming from a reputable gallery. Some estimate that the number of phony Dali's may approach 50,000 pieces. Astonishing to say the least. I would not buy a Dali anything without a third-party appraisal as to authenticity. This same distributor was also responsible for flooding the market with phony Alexander Calder and Joan Miro pieces as well. Needless to say, this incident was a major black eye on the secondary art market.

[BestOf7-migration]

Mr Woo

 

I like art myself, but am quite skeptical for the reasons you highlighted in your thread about buying any lithographs. Having been an art auctioneer, you would know better than most of us; is it just me, or is that an outrageous price to pay for a sketch (28,000 for a Matisse)?

[supapimp]

 

 

i've seen that matisse pic for auction before on eBay.

 

 

[BronzeBruce13]

Hmmm... made quite a few great trades that brought me beloved CGC'd keys in the past 3 years... BUT the most interesting trade from an entertainment POV was one that happened around 1981 when I discovered a friend (that never talked about comics previously) had an old "spinner rack" filled with comics that he wanted to trade for "other" reading material. Turns out he wanted 4 or 5 of my Dad's Playboys I breifly showed him when he was over my house one day. One in particular as I recall, the silver covered 25th Anniversary "Candy Loving" issue which he was just a little too excited to take possession of ("later Bruce" and like the Flash he was gone?)

 

I carried the loaded spinner rack 2 blocks back to my house and went through it. It was cool enough to get the Spinner Rack... but I discovered an X-Men 94 that was pretty beat among other things, but it was very cool trade. I loved having the SR in my room... it felt like a mini-newsstand!

 

Oddly enough he was no where to be found for our daily after school pick up Basket Ball games for about 2 weeks and when he returned his jumper was way off?

[chrisco37]

Actually the last three years of his life Dali was a virtual prisoner in his own home and his wife/lover together with the nursing staff had him sign blank pages.

 

"Tis true! Towards the end of his life, there were a ton of Dali lithographs produced. His signature is the only "legitimate" part of the piece. He had little or nothing to do with the plate selections/layouts, colors, etc....

 

If you are considering buying Dali art (and I'm talking litho's, not originals) , the earlier they were done, the better. There is some truly amazing stuff out there. Check out this site, and write them for a catalog (I think they run about $40):

 

Silverstate Art

 

Litho's will run you anywhere from 2K up. At the time I was looking for one, I believe there were some priced upwards of 25K.

 

As for Dali originals, FF is right. I doubt you could find anything for less than 100K. His paintings would go for even more. A true genius!

 

 

I used to work as a fine art auctioneer, and I can tell you the art market is just flooded with fake Dali's, for the reasons stated as well as other reasons. It's not just that he signed blank pieces of art paper and sold them, not just that he signed blank pieces of art paper and had his STUDENTS draw above his signatures and sell them as originals (those are Dali's own greedy tricks).

 

In addition, however, throughout the 1980's his North American licensed distributor (Leon Emil out of New Jersey) also fraudulently printed thousands of Dali lithos and prints, forged Dali's signature and fabricated multiple limited edition series and flooded the market. Emil had the plates to make the prints/lithos, but he didn't have Dali's detached signing hand! This licensed distributor was shut down by the federal government, but died before prosecution. However, that didn't stop his widow and daughters from selling more phonies until they were indicted as well. The problem with any secondary sale source is that that primary source was compromised so severely it is more likely than not that a particular piece is a phony, even if coming from a reputable gallery. Some estimate that the number of phony Dali's may approach 50,000 pieces. Astonishing to say the least. I would not buy a Dali anything without a third-party appraisal as to authenticity. This same distributor was also responsible for flooding the market with phony Alexander Calder and Joan Miro pieces as well. Needless to say, this incident was a major black eye on the secondary art market.

 

That's good info to know. When I was looking, I did a fair amount of research and based on the info that I had, I decided to pass on a litho. The one I was looking at would have cost me a good deal (alot more than I 've ever spent on a comic), and I just wasn't comfortable buying it knowing a little about what you detailed above.

 

He was an eccentric individual. I know that he spent lots of money, so it doesn't surprise me that he had some of his students do work for him. Naughty Dali!

 

Chris

[delekkerste]

I've heard about the The Great Dali Art Fraud for many years now. I think one of the business publications (Forbes?) wrote about it sometime in the mid-1990s. I am a big admirer of Dali (finally made it to his museum in Figueres, Spain this year, see pic below), but I would not invest in his work for that reason alone. Not to mention that the only readily affordable pieces are lithos, and they are still very pricey at that.

 

 

Also check out this page about Dali's abuses. By one estimate, Dali may have signed as many as 350,000 blank sheets of paper, though Dali denied that figure.

 

The Great Dali Art Fraud

[mrwoogieman]

Mr Woo

 

I like art myself, but am quite skeptical for the reasons you highlighted in your thread about buying any lithographs. Having been an art auctioneer, you would know better than most of us; is it just me, or is that an outrageous price to pay for a sketch (28,000 for a Matisse)?

 

I can't really speak to how much an original Matisse painting would sell for, but a crayon sketch priced over five figures seems inordinate or overly hopeful at the least. I can't imagine that price being met even at a high-end auction house with fervent bidding.

[DoubleCovaBrotha]

The most interesting trade offer I have ever received was in kindergarten.

 

I made a dinosaur out of blue and green Play-Doh and was offered a Fruit Roll-Up and a package of Ritz-Bitz cheese cracker sandwiches for it. I quickly crumbed under pressure.

[jduran1]

That is the best answer ever given on this forum. I am still laughing. Enjoyed it.