Charity shop bargains?
Yesterday we bought two original oil paintings, signed in the bottom corner Estivalet from a charity shop in our home town. We bought one, and left it to go back for it with the car. When we went back the chap behind the counter offered us another which was waiting to go on sale in the back of the shop. We bought them both because they were nice scenes of southern France, brightly coloured, and 'cheerful'. They cost just £6.99 each and I think they're beautiful.
I've just looked up the artist and been absolutely 'gobsmacked' to find her original works sell for thousands of dollars. Shall I take them on 'Flog It' do you reckon, or hang them on my sitting room wall in our little 'place in the sun' as planned?
Comments
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If you get a charity shop in an 'upmarket' area then the stuff can be fantastic, in Beverly near Hull I got some barnd new still in their wrappers and tags Van Heusen shirts for £3 each. When I checked the website they sold for £30 new!
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And if they are fakes,
you will still like them. If they are original and you sold them, would you donate half the money to
the charity?...Good quality art prints can look very realistic, I see this painter only uses a palette knife to paint so I hope ValDa's have palette marks if they are real.
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They do have palette knife marks on them, and are oil on canvas, not prints! They are nicely framed, though I suspect not in the original frames - but anyway they're lovely. I shall let you know if we have them valued! They were gift-aided, so if necessary we could probably trace the original owner.
I shall certainly hang on to them, and I may even buy a couple more prints (from ebay) and try to get some similar frames to match them.
We're going back to the charity shop right now to see if they have any more in 'the back room'.
And yes, they do have some upmarket stuff. I bought a new pair of Olsen 'jeans', still with the original price tag, unworn, for £3.99!
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If you like them that much Valda and they are worth a tidy amount after valuation, hang where they were intended , and wait until the artist passes away
then have them revalued 
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Tell us when you are on the Antiques Road Show
David
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I agree with Oneput , I feel quite strongly that we shouldnt profit from the charity. I have worked in charity shops and a lott of hard work goes on behind the scenes. The volunteers cant be expected to recognise artists of note and offer them in good faith to the public. A donation to the charity seems the right thing to do. The charities these days need every penny they can get. I agree though it is grest fun to rummage.
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I would definitely share with the Charity if I sold what I had found - but if I was just enjoying it at home not so sure. But I think I would put a note on the back to say when sold to share with the charity. I think my children would honour that wish
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Well, they're all packed up in bubble wrap now and in the car, so whether they're 'real' or 'fake', they are still lovely pictures and will be in pride of place on our wall in France. I don't want to cash in on them, so they will be considered to be worth what we paid for them.
However if some expert should come along and tell us that they are genuine, then I may sell them, replace them with similar prints, and give a large donation back to the charity shop where I bought them. Like others, once I knew their true value, I would have a conscience about buying something valuable for which the charity could have got a lot more money. (It was the PDSA shop)
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Surely its all a bit of serendipity? I make the assumption that Val, amongst her other talents, is not a world renown art dealer? A little bit of curiousity led to the possibility that the paintings could be by a well known artist or at worse a copy of a well known artist. The shop could have done the same research? I don't think anyone should have a conscience about it but if they do turn out to be of more than face value a donation to the charity would be welcome but not an absolute requirement.
David
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Surely its all a bit of serendipity? I make the assumption that Val, amongst her other talents, is not a world renown art dealer? A little bit of curiousity led to the possibility that the paintings could be by a well known artist or at worse a copy of a
well known artist. The shop could have done the same research? I don't think anyone should have a conscience about it but if they do turn out to be of more than face value a donation to the charity would be welcome but not an absolute requirement.David
agree here, the shop should have done its homework, they sold them at that price and were happy to get that. If it were me then it would depend on how much they would be really worth before and if I gave a donation.
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As I said earlier, we went back to the shop today, to see if they had any more 'hidden away'. A different assistant said 'Oh yes, there are two more brightly coloured paintings back there - and my heart jumped'. He brought out two hideous pictures of Disney
type princesses in lurid pink, yellow and purple - and even the 'art dealer' in me didn't want those!0 -
I help out in charity shops both in the UK and Spain when we are there. Its good to hear you have purchased some lovely items ValDa but give a thought to the charity that they were donated to..... If you sell them and make a 'mint' I am sure the charity
would benefit from a percentage of your profits.
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I help out in charity shops both in the UK and Spain when we are there. Its good to hear you have purchased some lovely items ValDa but give a thought to the charity that they were donated to..... If you sell them and make a 'mint' I am sure the charity
would benefit from a percentage of your profits.You obviously didn't read my earlier post where I said just that:
Well, they're all packed up in bubble wrap now and in the car, so whether they're 'real' or 'fake', they are still lovely pictures and will be in pride of place on our wall in France. I don't want to cash in on them, so they will be considered to be
worth what we paid for them.However if some expert should come along and tell us that they are genuine, then I may sell them, replace them with similar prints, and give a large donation back to the charity shop where I bought them. Like others, once I knew their true value, I
would have a conscience about buying something valuable for which the charity could have got a lot more money. (It was the PDSA shop)0 -
Excellent ValDa. My apologies for missing your above post. I knew you would really because you strike me as a nice person..... Hope they are genuine. A lot of people wouldn't though - as seen on programmes like Flog It or Antiques Roadshow. where items are bought for a few coppers and sold on for a lot of money.
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If you live where in the town I think you live in there will be no shortage of charity shops and plenty more to go at.
I wouldn't get too worried about the charity missing from the number of requests we get for direct debits from them they are running more like a business anyway.
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If you live where in the town I think you live in there will be no shortage of charity shops and plenty more to go at.
I wouldn't get too worried about the charity missing from the number of requests we get for direct debits from them they are running more like a business anyway.
...The charities I help are not big ones. They are small local ones and rely on every penny they can get.
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