Do you remember the Biggles Combs His Hair reference in some predecessor of Monty Python? Maybe At Ast The 1948 show.
No. It was news to me, but a mate of mine had a short-lived band in Hull, called 'Biggles Flies Undone'.
The only thing that would come near was when I spotted Anthony Burgess' 'Clockwork Orange' at a library sale in Burslem, Stoke. I paid 60p for it but had an inkling it might shift for a bit more cos' I noticed it was the first edition with the original slip cover. It eventually went on eBay to guy in Italy for £181.
It would be like a cool spy movie in a foreign city. I would of course need a theme song for my mission.
You sound like you know what you are talking about. I know nothing about art really the last thing I bought for my wall was a Jessica Simpson poster back in college. How can you tell if a painting was a print and someone painted over it? Ive googled a bunch of his paintings and I cant find one that looks quite like it. Most of the images I can find online are from paintings he has made recently and they have a lot more color in them. Like the ones on this link. http://www.stewart-gallery.co.uk/artist.asp?artistid=125 I found a couple cashed google images of paintings he made in the 1970's and 80's and it seems to me that back then he wasnt using as many vivid colors. I dont know if that makes it more or less likely it is a fake. The wood on the back of the frame looks to me to be the same age as the wood used to stretch the canvass. Although I suppose one could reframe using a frame that was the same age as the painting. Here is the frame. There are a couple measurements on it in pencil where the framer wrote it. There is also a faded upside down "8752 VT" on it in which appears to have been once written in red marker. please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
you need a uv torch - not expensive - also magnifying glass - uv torch can detect whats underneath to a degree - ie if you look at the different colour lines you can tell whether the oil has followed the print exactly - theres always a little inaccuracy if its been embellished - without seeing picture I cant tell how its been put together - the white canvas and stapling looks new around the edge but the brown in middle looks older - it should be the same unless the canvas is white one side and brown on the other - I would gently lift a small part of the stapling to check - I see he's put a certificate of authentication on it - again I'd have to see what it says - the frame at least is not that old because the pine is still clean - years of dust, coal fires/ smoke, general moving discolour the backs of frames to a brown colour plus canvas used to be held into the frame with wooden wedges - looks like white wood glue - again the frame could well be modern but have older oil inside as I said I would get it checked - problem with art is you like it because you like the subject matter but also because you think it is something - eg an antique or painted by a certain artist - as soon as you find out it isn't what you thought it was then more often than not you stop liking it - its a funny thing is art
I dont think thats his authenticity certificate. I'm guessing it was from some other place. There is no company or gallery name on it which is why I didnt mention it. The white edge on the canvas is actually paint. Whoever (lets hope the real artist) did it painted the front of the brown canvass white and then did the painting over it I think as I can see by peaking under the edge of the frame on the back that the color in the paintings sky (that brownish color) is painted over the white on the side of the canvass. My guess would be he painted the canvass white, then stretched it, and ignored painting over the back of the painting, but he definitely painted the sides of the canvass. Maybe that means the painting was not originally sold with the frame? Do artists normally paint the sides of paintings they intend on framing? The white stuff on the angle in the corner that looks like glue is actually some sort of cloth glue combination. There are definitely threads in it I have no idea if thats a normal thing.
as I said , id need to see it - also its hard to see what was covering the back - was it brown paper and how old does it look - it always perishes with age - from what I can see, the staples look very new which would tell me theres no age, they always lose their shine after a time - anyone can stick on a certificate - the Chinese do - tends to mean nothing unless they've been stuck on by auction house which at least give it some provenance as they will have done their own research and you can sometimes check it out on the net as all catalogues and prices realised are published - pm me if you need any more info
Ellewoods, this is a folk art style painting by Kowalski. I doubt that it is a fake, but please don't get too carried away. An original may cost 2k in a gallery, but when you go to sell it, you may be very disappointed. I would start at the $100 range for a print and work upwards to perhaps $1000 for an early oil on canvas. My opinion is that if I have to value this on the Internet I would give a realisation of less than $250. The range of colour may be an indicator. It most probably is painted in acrylic over card mounted on canvas. Whatever you do, don't drive any distance to have it valued. Email a good quality photo and ask for an opinion. If they get excited and it has value, they will either come to you or arrange shipping. Please do not pay to have this valued. It is typical of the wares sold by cruise ships auction sales. Sorry if I have pissed on your parade. I don't do many valuations of art, mainly the odd bit of probate work, but it was in a junk shop gathering dust for a reason.
My grandfather served in WW2 and was based in the Far East. He was the man who escorted the leader of the Japanese Armed Forces to the offical surrender, where they declared themselves out of the war. He kept (in the loft because my grandmother hated it) an old Rising Sun flag that he got from a base there. It still has some Japanese guys blood on it, could be worth a few quid. I wouldn't sell it, it's far too cool, but I've always wondered what the value might be.
You cant piss on my parade, I paid $40 bc I liked it not that I thought I was going to get rich. Hell if its worth $100 ill feel like a rich dude and that I got a good deal. I dont know what "acrylic over card mounted on canvas" is haha. Im pretty sure it was painted on primed canvass from looking at the back edge of the canvass where it is mounted in the frame. Ill try and send a photo of it somewhere and see if anyone likes it like you suggest. This is going to sound stupid but who would one email that picture to? haha. Besides the other link just posted, I emailed them already. You dont have to answer if you dont want, I know that I dislike people hounding me about fundraising as thats what I used to do for a living.
Is the sun centered or off center? If it is centered it is from the Imperial Japanese Army, if it is off center it is from the Imperial Japanese Navy. There seem to be 2 types, ones made of silk and ones made from cotton. The big ones (not the pennant ones) made of silk seem to go for a few hundred without a story. If they have a story behind them as in so and so took it at such and such a battle or off such and such ship then they seem to go for quite a bit more up to a couple grand with photos stuff like that. The cotton ones seem to go for about half of the value of the silk ones. There are a bunch of dealers selling them online that you can look at. Not that you want to sell it but you should have him write down the story of how he got it just for posterity's sake. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_Sun_Flag
He unfortunatley passed away in 2009 (for anybody who attended Brough Primary school in the 60's/70's he was headmaster there) but he said he took it from a tank. Most of the Americans were taking stuff and it was the first thing he saw that hadn't been claimed; it was already on the floor so he picked it up and stuffed it into his backpack. The Sun is centred, so I guess it's an Army one.
My wife bought an old decrepit harp for next to nothing. Had it inspected and turns out it has once belonged to the court of King William IV. It will soon be refurbished and sold to a museum.
The age of the painting is not relevant as the artist is still alive, so it could have been produced anytime in the last 60 or so years. It will not be a fake, there is no point. No point in even checking it out. In European tourist areas the painting over print trade is rife. The canvas comes from China and the local "artist" then finishes it off like a painting by numbers painting. Walk around Venice and you will see half a dozen of these con artists dabbing away. The big clue is the rolls of canvases next to the easel and the fact that they are "painting" the Rialto Bridge whilst stood in a square. Cruise ship art auctions commission artists to supply them, they generally have one or two very high value pieces on display and for sale, but it is mostly overpriced and the resale values are none existent. I have never seen auction conducted anywhere like the ones they have on cruise ships. The junk shop con is an easy one. They generally have a couple of spots in the shop where they sell most of the items. Punters look for the hidden gems, at the back of a stack of stuff that looks like it has been there ages. One shop I know sweeps the floor and then empties the dust over the stuff in a corner. The shop owner uses the same sort of words every time, " I've no idea what's behind there, it's been like that since I took the shop on ten years ago." It hasn't and he sell more from that corner than he does from his window display. Ellewoods has the right idea, but I would add this, if thinking that you have a bargain and trying to find out if you have, entertains you for a week or so, $40 is a steal.
