Fine Art, Asian & Antiques Division Newletter

James D. Julia, Inc.

Fine Art, Asian & Antiques Division

Save the Date.

Spotlight From life portraits of George Washington are rare and desirable. This recently discovered portrait was painted by William Post, who owned a paint supply store on Water St. in New York City, one street over to Washington's Cherry St. address. Click to see more highlights.		Meet Our New Staff Tianyue Jiang is an Asian art consultant, appraiser, and researcher. Trained as an art historian, Ms. Jiang holds a master's degree in the History of Art from Williams College in Massachusetts, United States. Her specializations range from Chinese decorative art, calligraphy and ink paintings, to Asian modern and contemporary art.

In Pursuit of Collections

Julia's is known for acquiring and bringing to auction important items and collections. Bill Gage has just negotiated and picked up an important archive of Civil War material amassed by Luis Emilio, who was a Captain in the 54th Massachusetts Voluntary Infantry. This was one of the first black regiments mustered in the Civil War. The archive includes more than 350 letters, 5 diaries, a journal, photography, documents, and more.

You can call Tony or Bill at 207-453-7125, or email us at antiques@jamesdjulia.com

Tony Geist Bill Gage has been with Julia's for 18 years as Department Head for the Fine Art, Asian & Antique division. He has 33 years of full-time auction experience.

What's It Worth
carved
with a whimsical expression of innocence.

carved
with a whimsical expression of innocence.

Oil on artist’s board of Motif #1 in winter by Aldro Thompson Hibbard. Housed in a guido frame. Paintings by prominent artists of this iconic Rockport, Massachusetts landmark tend to achieve high prices at auction. This painting sold for $31,050. If have a rare fine art, asian or antique item and want to know “What’s it Worth,” please take a picture and email it to us at antiques@jamesdjulia.com. We are always looking consignments of rare and valuable items, as well as collections for our auctions.

Seven Factors for Evaluating Paintings by Bill Gage

Artist The most important factor. Whether signed or not, all other factors are secondary to this knowledge. Obviously, if unsigned, obtaining a letter from an authority increases its desirability and value, as does an authentic, vivid signature.

Medium For any artist who is generally prolific in all mediums, a sliding scale can be made starting with pencil as the least value graduating through ink, pastels, gouaches and watercolors, to oils, acrylics, and tempera having the greatest value. Certainly, the most popular medium today is oils. This scale is not necessarily true in all situations, since some artists may only do watercolor or ink works.

Quality The higher the quality within the medium by any artist will bring the highest prices. These are usually the works that are demanded by the high-end collector, and command record prices.

Subject There are two parts to the subject category: one is the generic, broad theme of the work, such as still life, but there is finer subject matter within the theme, which may be roses. This can also be illustrated by, in broad terms, a marine theme with a more refined subject matter of a ship portrait.

Style Throughout their career an artist changes their style over time. Some of the style time periods are more or less desirable than others. An artist could transition from realism into abstract into impressionism, and the collecting public may only find one of the styles to be desirable, thus causing large price fluctuations between one style and another.

Condition Though this seems low on the list, condition is important. A painting in exceptional condition will command a higher price than one in poor condition. There is a point when the painting is in such bad condition that no matter whose it is it has little value. Factored into condition is the amount of restoration needed or done, and it should be understood that a poor restoration can be a huge detriment, whereas a fine professional restoration can enhance the value greatly.

Size In the past, a larger size has been to a painting’s advantage, but recently smaller sizes also can be an advantage. This is due to less wall space and the increase in collection size, and the need to exhibit. With this in mind, I have seen a small painting bring the same as a large painting of the same subject.

Attributed to William Kennedy

Attributed to William Kennedy

www.jamesdjulia.com | antiques@jamesdjulia.com

Consignments Wanted for our upcoming Winter 2014 auction. We will be accepting consignments until December 1st.

At James D. Julia, Inc. we are always seeking high quality antiques of all types for our year-round auctions. We offer the best seller commission rates in the industry, as low as 0% for high value items and collections. Please contact us directly at 207-453-7125 (Maine office) or 781-460-6800 (Boston area office) to learn more or if you are considering consigning one item, an entire collection or an estate to auction. All inquiries are confidential and without obligation.