Sell Aboriginal Art

If you want to sell Aboriginal art, one of the first things you need to establish is who the artist is. Works by some Aboriginal artists are considerably more valuable than others. But identifying the artist is only the beginning — determining what an individual painting is actually worth can be an art in itself.

Take Charlie Tawara Tjungurrayi as an example. His paintings have sold at auction for prices ranging from around $1,100 to more than $200,000. That enormous range tells you something about the importance of the artist, but very little about what your particular painting might be worth.

Two paintings by the same artist can have completely different values. Date, size, subject, provenance, condition, quality and how desirable that particular period of the artist’s work is to collectors can all make a substantial difference.

This is where specialist knowledge becomes important. Knowing the artist helps you find someone familiar not simply with the artist’s name, but with the different periods and types of work that collectors are actually looking for.

If you have an Aboriginal painting you are considering selling, send me photographs of the front and back, its dimensions, and images of any labels or certificates. I can usually tell fairly quickly whether it is something I can help you with.

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Value of Your Aboriginal Art

Aboriginal art is an enormous field, covering thousands of artists, different regions, periods and art movements. No dealer can genuinely be an expert on every Aboriginal artist.

If you want to sell Aboriginal art, I am happy to help, but I prefer to be straightforward about what I know. I specialise in particular artists and areas of Aboriginal art and will only buy or offer advice on works where I have sufficient knowledge of the artist and their market.

Knowing an artist well means understanding much more than their auction record. It means recognising the periods, subjects and types of paintings collectors prefer, knowing which provenances are important, and understanding why one work by an artist may be worth considerably more than another.

If the painting falls outside my area of expertise, I would rather tell you that than pretend to know what it is worth.

If you want to know whether I can help you sell Aboriginal art by a particular artist, simply use the search box on this website.

If I have written about the artist, it generally means they are an artist whose work I know and may buy or sell.

If you don’t know who created your artwork, that is not a problem. Send me some photographs of the front and back, along with the dimensions and photographs of any labels, signatures or certificates. I am happy to see if I can identify the artist and help you work out what to do next.

Different Ways to Sell Aboriginal Art

The best way to sell Aboriginal art depends largely on what you have. If you are fortunate enough to own an important painting worth tens of thousands of dollars, the best way to sell it may be very different from the best way to sell a more modest work.

Auctions can be good but they can also be risky. Dealers by many underpriced pieces at auction every month. Aboriginal art is a very specialized field and most auction houses do not know if your art is mediocre or great.

Private treaty is an excellent way to sell great pieces. Selling by private treaty is where a dealer will show your artwork to clients he knows collect that artist. Dealers selling by private treaty normally charge around 20 – 30 percent less than an auction. The main advantage though is a private treaty sale will not expose the artwork to the whole market at once. Pieces that go to auction but fail to sell are often perceived as less valuable. private treaty sales are usually for outstanding works of art worth over $10,000

Selling to a dealer is often the easiest way for lesser artworks. The dealer will normally buy pieces for about half of what he hopes he will sell it for. Often though in these days of everyone wanting a bargain the markup is more likely to be 30 percent

Sell Aboriginal Art outside of Australia

The best market for Aboriginal art is not surprising in Australia. If your aboriginal artwork is not in Australia it will be harder to sell and less valuable. The first thing you need to do is work out if it is worth getting your artwork to Australia to sell or not. As a general rule of thumb if your aboriginal artwork is worth less than $1000 then it isn’t worth moving.

These less valuable artworks can be sold at your local antiques or art auction.

Early ceremonial style painting by Kaapa Mbitjana Tjampitjinpa from the Papunya aboriginal dot art movement

Sell Aboriginal Art on the Internet

The best pieces to sell on the internet are those valued from $500 -$5000. With Artworks over $5000 collectors want to see the piece in person so they can imagine it in their home. I sell numerous more valuable pieces every year but they are sold through exhibitions where people can connect to the artwork rather than judge it from an image.

Artworks worth under $500 are not really worth freighting around Australia or the world.

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