eBay/Craigslist sellers... How do you price a collectible?

[Simple Abundant Living]

Long story short...

I recently found signed and numbered giclee posters for $7 ea at the thrift store. I love them and could use them in my house... or I could sell them for Christmas $$$. But I can't figure out how would be best to list them (eBay, Craigslist, ...) and for what price. The unsigned/unnumbered giclee prints would be these retail price (They are the 30x40 giclee prints):

http://www.art.com/products/p13897780113-sa-i6582296/jennifer-goldberger-gwen-s-dress-ii.htm?sorig=cat&sorigid=0&dimvals=0&ui=5cc5404c390d45fa8eb559a39ee0767e&searchstring=gwen%27s+dress+i&ssk=gwen%27s+dress+i&sby=all

and...

http://www.art.com/products/p13897804776-sa-i6582446/jennifer-goldberger-gwen-s-dress-i.htm?sorig=cat&sorigid=0&dimvals=0&ui=5cc5404c390d45fa8eb559a39ee0767e&searchstring=gwen%27s+dress+i&ssk=gwen%27s+dress+i&sby=all

So retail for these unsigned is $198. How do I value the "limited edition"-ness of them? I can't find any previous sales on eBay to give me a guideline. I like to list things for sale so that they're a good deal for the buyer and for me.

Thanks!

[Mr.Macinstache]

Links are dead.

The way you handle CL is post it up and ask for offers.

Ebay, start it out at $1 and sell just one. See what it gets up to. There's your estimated value. Sell only one at a time.

[KingCoin]

I'm a bit of an art collector. Your links are dead so I can't comment specifically, but in general:

This value is going to depend very heavily on whether there's an active secondary market for the artist. To determine whether there's an active market, check ebay to see if there's bidding on other prints by the artist. If not, do a general google search and see if the artist is being discussed/traded in any forums. They might turn up on collector's sites like expressobeans.com depending on the genre.

If you determine that there is an active secondary market, your best bet is to sell them on ebay. You'll get the widest exposure to collectors around the globe. If the artist is popular on a collector's forum, you'll want to alert them to your ebay posting.

If there's not an active secondary market (much more likely), your best bet is to post them on craigslist and hope someone takes a shining to them. With no active collectors, they're likely to languish on ebay (they might not sell for $1) unless the subject matter is of specific interest to someone. You might have to post them a few times and/or adjust the price on CL to generate interest. Feel free to post the retail prices and links since "$400 of prints for $50" can be an effective sales pitch. Unfortunately, without an active secondary market, you're going to have to pull a starting number out of thin air. You'll want to go high enough to make it worth your while and leave some room for negotiation, but not so high that you're going to scare away all potential buyers.

In the large majority of cases, the "limited edition" factor is meaningless. There are literally millions of limited edition series out there, the vast majority of which are worth little to nothing. For highly collectible artists, a small edition size will often be more valuable than a large edition or an open edition, but that's probably true of less than 1 in 500 artists.

[Simple Abundant Living]

Thanks for the advice.  I fixed the links, so you can see what I have.  I looked up other posters of the artist on eBay (Jennifer Goldberger), and I can't see a single one that's sold.    So right now, I'm thinking not eBay. 

While we're on the subject, I also have 300+ Polish Art posters from the mid-late 1960's that my dad collected during his fellowship at the University of Warsaw.  I have spent time photographing and cataloging them.  Now what?  I'd love to sell them as a collection, but some of them are very valuable ($6-800) and some probably have little value.  Again, I appreciate any advice!

[KingCoin]

Those prints are perfectly pleasant, but they're of decorative rather than collectible value (i.e they're never going to go up in value). If you enjoy them, then they're a  steal at $7. It might be worth taking a stab on CL to see if you can find a taker, but I wouldn't invest a ton of time.

The 60's Polish art prints are going to be of much more interest to collectors. Since you mentioned a price range, I assume you had them appraised or have done some research? My guess is you'll get a lot more money by selling the collection piecemeal than as a single unit, but that will obviously be a non-trivial project.

[Russ]

This might not be practical depending on the rarity of what you have, but I always search adhuntr.com (searches all craigslist listings) and ebay completed listings for similar items to see how much other people's stuff is selling for. Then, depending on availability in my area, adjust price up or down a touch.

You could also give them as a christmas gift if you know someone who might like them, rather than converting them into money to buy a different gift.

[KingCoin]

You could also give them as a christmas gift if you know someone who might like them, rather than converting them into money to buy a different gift.

The major caveat being that taste in art tends to be highly individualistic. Also, framing prints of this size can easily run $200+ each, which makes it an onerous gift.  Come to think of it, if they're already framed, the frames are probably much more valuable than the art (sad, but true).

[Simple Abundant Living]

The 60's Polish art prints are going to be of much more interest to collectors. Since you mentioned a price range, I assume you had them appraised or have done some research? My guess is you'll get a lot more money by selling the collection piecemeal than as a single unit, but that will obviously be a non-trivial project.

I haven't appraised them, but have found a few of them online. Many have been hard to find. Either because they're worth very little or they could be worth a lot. Most of them are so beautiful and interesting.  But their value is still a question mark to me.

[KingCoin]

I haven't appraised them, but have found a few of them online. Many have been hard to find. Either because they're worth very little or they could be worth a lot. Most of them are so beautiful and interesting.  But their value is still a question mark to me.

You can probably just send your catalog to the relevant specialist at Christie's or Sotheby's who will usually give a free "finger in the air" guess at valuation. You'll have to pay to get an estimate in writing though. It's probably worth doing some digging online to see if you can find a specialist in the genre to take a look as well, but watch out for conflicts of interest ("I think they're worth 8k, I'll take them off your hands for 10k just because I'm a swell guy"). In any event, a professional appraisal is probably in order for insurance purposes (you could have $100k of prints on your hands).

Often, high quality vintage posters and prints will trade at a decently high price on aesthetics alone, even if the artist is unknown or anonymous. I'd actually be interested to see some of them :)