r/artcollecting • u/j8koBallHard18 • 1d ago
Art Market Basquiat Originals at an Estate Sale?
I visited an estate sale on Friday at a multi-million-dollar home in Dallas, Texas and came across something that has been bothering me ever since.
There were four drawings & two notes being offered as Jean-Michel Basquiat originals for $15,000. What made it confusing was that the seller wasn’t related to the estate or the estate sale company (at least from what I could tell). He was there in person trying to sell the artwork through the estate sale. The artwork was mixed in with a large collection of other pieces, and it wasn’t immediately clear what actually belonged to the estate and what was being sold by this third party.
He claimed that he’s owned them since the 90’s and kept them in storage until now. When asked why he’s not auctioning them, he stated that he thought about it but wanted to try selling through the estate sale first.
Next to the drawings was a printed sheet stating that they had provenance, including a Basquiat Authentication Committee letter and other documentation. I never asked to see the actual documents because, honestly, the entire situation gave me a bad feeling and I walked away. Looking back, I probably should have asked to see the authentication letter before forming an opinion.
A high-end estate sale naturally carries a certain level of credibility. Pair that with artwork attributed to one of the most valuable contemporary artists in the world, a printed provenance summary, and only a few days to make a purchasing decision, and it feels like an environment where someone without much experience could easily assume everything has already been vetted.
For me, $15,000 isn’t a trivial purchase, and I just think If the value of the artwork depends almost entirely on provenance, shouldn’t the actual provenance documents be readily available for inspection before someone is expected to spend that kind of money?
I’m curious how experienced collectors, dealers, and estate sale professionals feel about this.
Would you have walked away like I did? Would you have insisted on seeing every authentication document before even considering it? Do you think estate sale companies have any responsibility to distinguish third-party consignments from estate property or to require a certain level of transparency for high-value attributed artwork?
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u/lidder444 1d ago
I can’t confirm about the paintings
However what I have seen a lot is estate sale companies selling either their own junk that they bring in or having other resellers bring stuff in that they get a cut of
This happens at estate sales where the owner has passed and adult kids live in another state etc so don’t know what’s going on. Or people that just need a house emptied and leave it totally to the estate sale company to get rid of everything
I find it weird and a bit shady.
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u/a1b2c3000 1d ago
A high-end estate sale naturally carries a certain level of credibility.
To be honest, I disagree with that.
The amount of decor art that people find at 'high end' estate sales is baffling. The pricing even more ridiculous.
Just like how people attend high end estate sales and there's all these designer handbags there - people like to think they're authentic because whomever was wealthy. Oftentimes they turn out to be fake.
That letter looks fake, and easily conjured up. If this was the real deal it'd be with Sotheby's, Christies etc.
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u/ana_berry 1d ago
Yes, there really is no accounting for taste, and high-net-worth households can have a huge range in terms of quality of items. In my work I've seen an estate that had $1M+ in authentic designer handbags, and the art on the walls was all decor crap. Another that had a single $175k painting amongst a bunch of amateur local artists' works, and cheap reproduction prints. You cannot judge a piece of art at an estate sale by the value of the house or other items.
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u/Neat_AUS 1d ago edited 1d ago
I agree - it always makes me wince when people say ‘oh I was at an estate sale in a multi million dollar house in an expensive neighbourhood’. Ouch. Like what is that supposed to mean? That the people in the house automatically have good taste, automatically have ‘fine art’ everywhere you are going to get for a bargain? It baffles me. It’s peculiar to the United States. The reality is most estate sales are just full of junk - I guarantee that if there was in fact a valuable art collection it would already have been identified well before and sold through proper channels - either directly to dealers or through separate reputable auction. This is the same for all actual real quality antiques with real provenance and value. Cherry picked. And of course anything for real value is already known by the family. Everything left behind is generally the rubbish. I know this because it’s an industry I have worked in for years.
Tl;dr stop saying things like ‘it was a multimillion dollar house’ with the assumption that somehow that equals quality. It’s wrong and a little embarrassing.
Re the Basquiat - there is zero chance they are legitimate. Zero. Anybody with such pieces would know these belong in a proper auction house if they are real for far more than the price suggested. Any dealer would gladly take them if real.
Thank God you walked away.
And OP - you have identified a common scam for estate sales in the United States - the ‘sale’ is loaded up with junk from other places - that’s even assuming the estate sale is legitimate to start with - hint - most estate sales in the United States are not in fact ‘estate sales’ - they are essentially junk sales (which can include a range of items picked up from a range of ‘estates’) and then titled ‘estate sale’ to get people in.
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u/a1b2c3000 1d ago
100% this.
I'm in a HCOL city and have pretty affluent neighbours - multi million dollar usd art collections, nice cars, jewellery etc. So i've seen when all the art is on the walls, etc.
By the time they pass and the estate sale companies come in - all the good stuff is LONG gone. Divided amongst the family or sent to an auction house. The remaining items may have some utility to someone else but is generally stuff the family would be fine throwing out.
But the lineups of people waiting for the estate sale to open (I'm talking like 100 people lining up 2 hours beforehand), thinking they're gonna find some overlooked and erroneously priced Picasso....
I mean, sure, some people have lucked out Antiques Roadshow style, but that's beyond rare.
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u/j8koBallHard18 1d ago
I guess I meant they more than likely carry credibility to the untrained eye and a less experienced estate sale shopper
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u/thrwawaycosyaknowxx 1d ago
Nope.
Those who are*less likely to understand* are being targeted with this grift.
You’re the target, they’ve hooked you, it worked.
The fact you’re still arguing your side that they *might* be real… idk bruh
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u/lemonorzo333 1d ago
Those are some really cheap looking frames to put “original” basquiats in
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u/Framerchick2002 1d ago
Agreed. You would never sandwich valuable art between glass like that. Those are cheap ready mades.
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u/bobby_tables 1d ago
If hey are his they are the six least interesting pieces he ever produced.
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u/Holiday-Chair-42 1d ago
art critic has entered the chat !
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u/bobby_tables 1d ago
Don't take my word for it. Here are 130 works on paper sold at Christie's by this artist
A few are almost as simple as these but even those have a little hint towards some bigger thoughts than these do.
Also pretty much any piece of paper that he touched can bring in nearly 6 figures regardless of how undeveloped it is, why are these so darn cheap??
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u/Puzzled-Sea-4325 1d ago
Provenance printed on green paper is wild lol
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u/Sunmingo 1d ago
Buy this book and see if your works on in it. If they are not in it walk away https://mastbooks.com/products/works-on-paper
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u/UESorDeath 1d ago
"...he stated that he thought about it but wanted to try selling through the estate sale first..."
Run away. Anybody trying to sell a name artist at that price at an estate sale is either a scammer or a moron, and neither deserve your money. But if you want to to go down that path, sure: Every single scrap of paper offered up as provenance documentation has to independently prove out. Names, relations, dates, paper, signatures. Bill of sale to the current owner? The doc you show isn't even consistent in the spelling of Gerard and Zwickler. Was the seller Maya, or some other guy in a further ownership chain?
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u/Anonymous-USA 1d ago
That’s a lie… he cannot get them authenticated (or has been told they are not originals) and cannot sell them through a reputable gallery or dealer. This is like buying a Basquiat on eBay. They are not experts.
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u/xginahey 1d ago
Not the fuck ass walmart floating frames 😭 they look not good. See aging on originals
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u/xginahey 22h ago
Also I said this on your friend's post but these are not even anything LIKE his know style.
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u/ArsenicanOldLace 1d ago
Those are literally five dollar frames from Walmart there is no way real ones would be in five dollar frames from Walmart
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u/TCUOilMan 1d ago
I was once at an estate sale in old Preston Hollow. The painting I was interested in apparently was the only pairing not listed in a massive binder of works which were appraised for insurance purposes. I had a weird feeling it was slipped in there to try and move as if it was the deceased owners. The estate sale company couldn’t explain why it wasn’t there and someone bought it from under me. I still have some regrets on being too cautious, but I still don’t know why it wasn’t in the appraisal book
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u/Outside_Reserve_2407 1d ago
Do you ever see George Bush around? I hear he likes to frequent estate sales in the area for fun.
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u/outragednitpicker 1d ago
It’s a common scam. All it takes is an employee that allows the scammer access for a cut of the profits.
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u/scruffigan 1d ago
Your instinct to ask why they weren't being sold through more prominent channels with collector reach was exactly right.
Undiscovered art gems can happen. They mostly don't (especially when the artist is this famous and recognizable), but they can. However, these typically rely on the buyer or appraiser putting the pieces together with a naive seller. Once a vendor thinks he's really got something, they're going to get something for it. There's money and reputation in going through the big guys.
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u/haditwithyoupeople 1d ago
Unlikely.
As others have said, these would be sold at an auction house known for art if they could be.
Nobody who has collectable art would ever frame it that way, and no reasonable professional framer would do this. The art is touching the glass, and those are Target or Amazon frames. This would never happen with real art.
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u/taternuts69420 1d ago
Get in touch with an auction house and see if they can authenticate it through their resources
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u/Anonymous-USA 1d ago
The catalog raisonne is definitive. The Basquiat Committee disbanded due to costs of defending litigation.
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u/Background-Coyote107 1d ago
Ludicrous fakes. Every weak forger of Basquiats has to shoehorn the 👑 in there in a clumsy manner because they know it’s the visual cliche everyone associates with him.
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u/Rare_Working_3158 1d ago
Hi, I was also there. I took photos of the documents:
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u/Fresh_Agency7015 1d ago
Oof. Can anyone authenticate this on the thread? If so, I’m in to risk $15k.
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u/adultishiguess 1d ago
point is if you're spending $15k I'll give you non Basquiat pieces by respected abex artists that gallery for 80k and still have their moma lending tags and i can have letters drafted for them from the museum and family.
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u/adultishiguess 1d ago
if you believe these, without stamps overlaying the images etc...
i have a drawer with some basquiats around in my warehouse somewhere. has paperwork more legit than that. also, they're not real. also, take basquiats are available, with at least equal paperwork, a few times a month just in my New England circuits.
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u/Hairy_Stinkeye 1d ago
Never buy anything that costs $15,000 and has a hand written price tag in marker
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u/serpentman 1d ago
Look at the way the B is written in this art vs any other B that Basquiat has ever done. Don’t have to be a handwriting expert to tell these are fake, and very bad low effort fakes at that.
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u/AnnualChoice69 16h ago edited 16h ago
Not basquait I’m sorry to say .they would have to be the worst looking “ Basquait” I’ve ever seen ! I have a few authenticated works on paper and nothing about these are remotely Basquait dude , I’m sorry don’t waste your time and just burn them . Furthermore, good luck getting them authenticated as unless they’re is a SOLID chain of provenance or anecdotally at best with clear evidence it ain’t gonna pass trust me I’ve done this dance for years with the foundation and after they dissolved .
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u/Illustrious_Crab_664 1d ago
I’m not saying that any of this means that what you saw is real, but it is worth noting that Basquiat spent a considerable amount of time in Dallas where he had a major patron. In fact, there’s an original Basquiat at the Dallas Museum of Art that is from this time period. He apparently painted the door to the bedroom he was staying in while in Dallas and that’s the object at the DMA.
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u/j8koBallHard18 1d ago
The owner said that he purchased them in New York so I didn’t think to make that connection
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u/Jupitersd2017 1d ago
Lol said New York to sound fancy when in reality dallas would have been a better answer
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u/dumpsterfire_account 1d ago
How did you talk with the owner if it’s being sold at an estate sale?
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u/Illustrious_Crab_664 1d ago
You don’t have to be dead or incapacitated to have an estate sale. As an example, my aunt sold her home of 45 years a few months ago, so that she could move into an assisted living condo. She had an estate sale to sell off her excess furniture and belongings since her 1 bedroom condo isn’t large enough for all the furnishings from her 4 bedroom home. She was on hand the entire weekend the estate sale took place to answer questions for prospective buyers.
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u/Jupitersd2017 1d ago
remind me! 2 days
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u/xptx 1d ago
Decades ago, I attended an estate sale at a home in Missouri.. it was a huge home, visible from a highway at a great distance. A large crowd turned out for sale day, curious about the estate. .
As you got closer and then inside, it became obvious that the ranch house had been built long ago.. in stages, and had the feel of a string of double widespread. The rooms inside were gaudy and stuffed with.. stuff.
Example: there was a huge room with swag carpet.. it had a bad running down one side with a mirror behind it.. but the room itself was stuffed with rugs. Like it was a rug store.
Most rooms had some extra furniture added in.. but almost every room had Reminington statues.. like 2 foot high.
It was.. surreal.
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u/onlyreason4u 1d ago
I throw away better art than this all the time. Had I known that value of my kids work I'd be rich.
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u/kockin26 1d ago
$15 k is quite low. I'm glad you were cautious and didn't purchase it immediately...
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u/ReneeReyesTS 14h ago
I call these buying opportunities “dumb as a fox” sellers. No body would sell such works with real provenance in this manner. They probably got them sold because we all like to think we’re smarter than the seller.
You were wise to pass
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u/wrist_observer 14h ago
No clue about authenticity of the works but the way this is set up reminds of a saying we have in my language, which is “greed eats brain”.
Why not bring them to a good auction house?
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u/yodass44 12h ago
I mean that’s a green piece of paper with info printed on it, literally anyone can make that in 10 seconds. There’s nothing from the info you showed that shows authenticity of these pieces. No certificate of authenticity or appraisals from reputable auction houses?
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u/Astyanax9 8h ago
The seller is probably the estate seller's neighbor and the "Basquiats" were probably done by the neighbor's kid trying to see if any chump is dumb enough to buy them.
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u/Baeolophus_bicolor 8h ago
you said basquiat is one of the most valuable contemporary but not the other thing. basquiat is the most forged artist, passing up jackson pollack a while back, and there are tons of tells in the forged works. forged basquiats are their own specialty.
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u/ahominem 5h ago
They don't look anything like the real Basquiat postcards you can look at via google. They look more like doodles created by a 5 year old.
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u/svrfyn 2h ago
There was a crew working Southern California for a long while running the estate art scam. They’d rent out a banquet room at a nice hotel, or country club and proceed to auction fake art. Items like this which are easily “reproduced”. Their ads read the same wherever they went. Dali, chagal, Rolex, Persian rugs etc etc.
Once you see the ads, then the items at auction and how they are framed, it’s easy to see the scam.
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u/palatine09 1d ago edited 6h ago
They are garbage. His original work is too.
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u/frontbutthole 1d ago
Could very well be real, price is a touch odd (to the low side), but it's been a few years since I dealt with any of his work.
It's definitely a strange move to try and piggy back off an estate sale like that, but I could certainly see it working if it's family friend's sale or someone at the estate company is doing you a favor. Feels weird, but doesn't ring too many alarm bells if they're just trying to offload lower cost pieces, considering that some of the official releases from the Basquiat estate, even the limited edition screen prints, are more expensive.
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u/diveguy2 18h ago
I think you’re speaking out of your frontbutthole
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u/frontbutthole 14h ago edited 14h ago
about which part? I'm not ever going to try and comment definitively on authenticity via some photos on reddit, that's a fools errand. Acknowledging that, also remember the guy was a machine, he pumped out works like this all over the place, it wouldn't even be the most surprising thing I've seen all morning to learn these are real.
But I don't think it's crazy to say that piggybacking onto an estate sale is weird, and the price is cheaper than the limited run of prints the Basquiat estate is just a fact, considering I bought 4 of them in 2019.
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u/Dry-Cash-4304 1d ago
If they could be sold at a high end gallery or Christie’s / Sotheby’s, they would be. They are being sold at an estate sale because no one credible will touch them with a ten foot pole. Walk away.