Jon Crane Prints

Create a Post
G

gunzlinger

Grumbler
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Posts
18
Loc
Rapid City, SD
Does anyone have any Crane prints that they would like to wholesale? I have a demand for these in my area. Can not go direct from the dealer as am not a full fledged gallery as of yet (Just gettin started in the biz!).

Thanks for all of your time. Email me if anyone has any leads!!
 
Since you are new to the buying and selling of art and art prints, most art is bought by the gallery owner at wholesale price, whatever that may be. It is marked up to a retail price (most times "Keystoned at wholesale price) and sold to the shopping public. That is part of the way a gallery owner makes his/her business thrive.

To buy an art print at wholesale and then sell it at wholesale isn't very profitable for the person who laid out their cash to buy the print in the first place. There are shipping charges to get the print to the gallery and sometimes, the print is shrinkwrapped on foamcore to display it. Many times the print stays in the gallery for months before it is sold. All of this should be added to the cost of the print in addition to the wholesale purchase in order to realize a true profit on a sale.

So, with this in mind, I will tell you that I do have some Jon Crane prints but you will have to make a better offer on them than "wholesale" before I will be able to sell them. And even then, I would have to know that you are not simply somebody who is looking for a good deal on Crane prints.

The truth is, your store name sounds more like a furniture store than an art gallery and I would be hesitant to put a s/n Jon Crane print alongside the decorator stuff displayed in most of the furniture stores I have visited.

How long have you operated "Furnish with Us"?

I have a sneaking suspicion that I have been preaching to the choir instead of trying to teach a new person to this trade how markup is handled.

Framerguy
 
One of the interesting features of the Wizard database of prints and posters (Virtual Gallery?) was/is a list of galleries willing to sell s/n prints to shops and galleries unable to order them directly.

The price wouldn't be wholesale OR retail - it would be a discounted price somewhere in-between so that everyone could make some money.

I haven't used the service in over a year and I never did use that particular feature.
 
You can get a good number of prints from gallery's using Art Express. It is a listing service for people mainly gallery's reselling art works on the secondary Market. you can reach them to subscribe at
www.artexpediter.com.

It should give you a good start on what you need.

Jill Hennes
Omro gallery
 
A very good resource and a good suggestion, thank you, Jill.

I haven't subscribed to the Expediter in the last 2 years but I would bet that "gunzlinger" will be disappointed in most of Jon's listings there. As of 2 years ago, most of my inventory was well above issue price and climbing. And that listing is a much more realistic depiction of the post-issue worth of a limited edition print as it lists by what galleries and print distributors are willing to actually sell the prints for rather than a perception of what the print is worth. Many times these perceptions are generated by the artists themselves or the publisher and don't reflect the true value on the secondary market.

Framerguy
 
Framerguy, I would be interested in a list of Crane prints you have. I have calls from time to time for some of the older ones and I'm not looking to buy wholesale since I can get anything Jon has available direct. E-mail the list would be fine when you get the time.

GZ, sorry, I would not compromise my relationship with Jon Crane Gallery by doing that. I believe that is what went on with Redlins a few years ago and threatened all of the small shops.

I did have a customer bring in a Jon Crane she got from E-bay which wasn't shipped very well, has a slight crease and had she ordered through me or directly from JCrane I would have called for a replacement but under the circumstances we will be framing it.
 
That's exactly what happened with Redlin and alot of his prints. They started with the Encore series which began showing up in truck stops around the country priced at anywhere from 50% to 150% above the original issue price. Hadley caught on when a few of their dealers suddenly started ordering 200 to 500 copies of these reprints for no apparent reason. There was some controversey about what to do with the prints that were already out there since the truck stop owners had already paid for them but the guilty dealers lost their dealership permanently and probably had civil action brought against them in the end.

I got this information when I saw a number of these Encore prints in a truck stop in Mich. and complained to Hadley about it. I guess there were other complaints too because the doodoo hit the fan and they started numbering the Encore Prints in an attempt to track any prints down to their buyers if they popped up in places that were not Hadley dealers.

I parted company with Hadley a few years ago for other reasons than the Redlin scam.

Framerguy
 
I'd rather buy a jee-clay
 
Framerguy:

Where dose this practice differ from that of selling other "dealer pieces": that are under agreement to not be sold at a discount, at discount prices to our customers?

Jill Hennes
Omro Gallery
 
Jill,

First, I am not an expert on Art law so I can't give you a definitive answer to your question. I would suggest that there are fine lines drawn as to when and how a gallery disposes of art prints in their inventory.

For example, there is a difference in ordering 300 prints of an image and immediately discounting them to a truck stop for resale and marking down a single image of something that has been in your gallery for 6 months so that you can do a closeout on it and remove it from your inventory.

I think there are certain ethics that should be followed to maintain an agreement between 2 companies as to how the paper art is handled and disposed of. If you are buying prints and reselling them in quantity and that sale goes against the set upon agreement for the sale of those prints, then you are breaking that agreement and have knowledge aforethought as to your actions.

If I were the publisher, I would can your butt in a heartbeat if there was evidence that you were breaking the agreement that made you a print dealer in the first place. HOw fair is that to those dealers who ARE abiding by the rules and playing the game without any cards up their sleeves??

Framerguy
 
Have to agree with Framerguy. I sell Jon Crane in my shop. However, I signed a contract with him and will live up to my end of the agreement. If you read those contracts, you will note you cannot sell to other dealers.
 
My beef is not with deal to deal ships of old iventory. But with the practice of some local dealers of a diffrent artist selling new releases at the discounted prices in violation of the agreements.. Hadley house and whitedoot publishing both require the dealer not to discount prints by their artists yet some shops still do.
There is nothing I can really do about it but it sure gets my goat to have my clients ripped out from under me because I beleive my word is truely the only thing of value i can possess.

Jill Hennes
Omro Gallery
 
Jill,

Unless they have changed their policies, both White Door and Hadley issued protected areas with their print dealerships. If that is still the case, and you were there first, and the "other dealers" are discounting under your nose, I would call both the dealerships and ask some pointed questions about what your selling territory consists of and how much you are allowed to discount YOUR prints bought from them. You should be able to figure out the replies to those answers based on what they tell you about your dealership and the territory you are selling in.

Framerguy
 
FYI to everyone...

Hadley House no longer protects dealerships when it comes to open editions, such as Encore Redlins.
 
Create a Post
Back
Top