Crazy bargain of the day....

Grahame Case · Post by **Grahame Case** » Sat 16 Feb, 2008 9:25 pm

Today we sold a Thomas Ross etching of a horse - framed, with a double mount and several washlines for £4.00, the woman thought there must be a mistake

There was nothing wrong with it, not a blemish or a scratch, i had just grown fed up with having it hanging around the shop for years, and it finally sold!

i hate to think what it cost us, probably add a zero onto the end of the 4 for the mounted print alone. but we are sort of getting desperate to shift all this unwanted stock.

framed prints reduced from £22 to £2 - framed limited editions reduced from £85.00 to £30

we've got approx 200 24 x 30cm Art Group Prints that we can't sell for love nor money, the unit for them was dumped years ago but we still have the stock, which is probably about 8-9 years old, sitting gathering dust. they are now priced at £3.00 (rrp was £6.00)

2 more weeks left of this sale, and hopefully we will be clear of the junk.

if not i think it is getting written off and taken to a car boot sale where the entirety of the proceeds will be donated to Ataxia UK - our preferred charity.

Spit · Post by **Spit** » Sat 16 Feb, 2008 9:36 pm

It's one of the reasons I decided to stay as a pure framer - how on earth can you predict the artistic tastes of the local populace? (You have tourists, which is a different kettle of fish)

I find the whole idea of selling prints a bit of a lottery! Maybe it would be better to specialise in one area - my local competition Kadinski (who you know!) do this with B/W prints, and seem successful enough to afford a spot at the spring fair!

Grahame Case · Post by **Grahame Case** » Sat 16 Feb, 2008 9:51 pm

yes Steve, we do have tourists, but 99.9% of our retail art sales are from locals, we find that tourists would much rather go up the high street and get some "Tourist Tat" as we like to call it.

Locals actually want nice pictures of Edinburgh and Scotland, it is weird.

things have evolved over the past few years since my redesign it is now the case that people come in for framing, at our island design area, which has good views around the shop and end up walking out with a picture off of the wall, or out of the browser, which in turn needs framed.

Spit · Post by **Spit** » Sat 16 Feb, 2008 9:56 pm

Grahame Case wrote:Locals actually want nice pictures of Edinburgh and Scotland, it is weird.

That is strange, everywhere I've lived, people want pictures of places away from where they are.

Grahame Case · Post by **Grahame Case** » Sat 16 Feb, 2008 9:57 pm

us Scottish folk are just peculiar,

this is the whole reason we are clearing out our non Scottish images, so we have more room for what actually sells off the walls!

osgood · Post by **osgood** » Sat 16 Feb, 2008 9:57 pm

Grahame "John",
Some US framers give the prints away free, if the customer pays for the framing. You could even have a special price on the framing if you used all those mouldings that have been cluttering up your shop for yonks!

Make it a "Twin Special" - Free print & Bargain Frame!

Grahame Case · Post by **Grahame Case** » Sat 16 Feb, 2008 10:03 pm

osgood wrote:Grahame "John",
Some US framers give the prints away free, if the customer pays for the framing. You could even have a special price on the framing if you used all those mouldings that have been cluttering up your shop for yonks!

Make it a "Twin Special" - Free print & Bargain Frame!

one step ahead of you Ormond, we have some pre-matted limited edition prints (not of Scotland) that we are giving away if they get it framed by us, have been for about a year or so. Some of them originally retailing around £100 - we just can't shift them though, they sit and sit and sit and sit, without being looked at, whereas, other mounted prints (of Scotland) sell much more quickly.

i can't fathom it,

kev@frames · Post by **kev@frames** » Sat 16 Feb, 2008 10:40 pm

Grahame Case wrote:yes Steve, we do have tourists, but 99.9% of our retail art sales are from locals, we find that tourists would much rather go up the high street and get some "Tourist Tat" as we like to call it.

Locals actually want nice pictures of Edinburgh and Scotland, it is weird.

.....

its that way here, too. I can shift anything i can get of west cornwall to local customers, but not much else- hence our shift to "framing only" last year.
But judging by the amount of framing jobs we get in presented in tubes, someone somewhere is shifting a lot of prints on the internet.

Maybe we were just spoilt by the heyday of print and picture sales in the 90's

Grahame Case · Post by **Grahame Case** » Mon 18 Feb, 2008 6:31 pm

Kev, have you sold that Jack Vetrianno you had in your window?

ours are at a £1 now!

kev@frames · Post by **kev@frames** » Mon 18 Feb, 2008 8:38 pm

Lol, what do you think, Grahame

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have I b*ggery

Grahame Case · Post by **Grahame Case** » Mon 18 Feb, 2008 8:43 pm

i think Jack Vetrianno shot himself in the foot, he has over sold his image, just like Moby did with all his songs, appearing on almost every car advert...

the funny thing is, jack vetriannos are nice images, and it isn't those that are selling ... its your tatty pictures of pubs and inns of england, pictures of vases of flowrrs that look like a 5 year old painted them. and Foil prints... anyone rmember them?

kev@frames · Post by **kev@frames** » Mon 18 Feb, 2008 8:58 pm

indeed . Once an image makes its way onto tea towels, biscuit tins and into Argos, its time to look for something else to sell.
I do admire the bloke, particularly the way he kept a dignified silence when a lot of the art "establishment" rubbished him as a talentless hack, and instead showed the £££ value of his art and trousered the money.

funny how we turn into instant art critics, I wonder how much our opinions are influenced by what sells and what doesn't

Post by **prospero** » Mon 18 Feb, 2008 9:04 pm

Anyone remember that great Pete'n'Dud sketch?

"Are there any Vernon Wards in this gallery"?

"He's done ducks in all positions".

Grahame Case · Post by **Grahame Case** » Mon 18 Feb, 2008 9:14 pm

anyone able to sell J. Seery-Lester images?

we have several small JSL prints framed and they just wont shift... 4 of one blooming image

Grahame Case · Post by **Grahame Case** » Sun 24 Feb, 2008 9:25 pm

right, time for me to come up with yet another crazy bargain for this week -

all our card making and jewellery items are being sold at least 10% less than cost price -

this is the final week of the sale and I'm not particularly wanting to box them up and tidy them away, so any money we get for them will be welcomed with open arms.

We have spaces appearing on the walls, because we have ran out of reduced items. I'm not filling the spaces until Saturday evening when the great rehanging and shuffle of walls and floor begins.

i've gone a bit crazy haven't i?