I won a "free" lithograph at the art auction

[caribill]

Forgive me if I look stupid here, but what is a lithograph?

 

 

li·thog·ra·phy

 

   

–noun 1. the art or process of producing a picture, writing, or the like, on a flat, specially prepared stone, with some greasy or oily substance, and of taking ink impressions from this as in ordinary printing.

 

2. a similar process in which a substance other than stone, as aluminum or zinc, is used.

[highflyingrealtor]

If you like it, its all good. :D

 

Well said...:cool:

[DMRick]

You did better than I did. I don't remember which cruise I 'won' my art on, but it sold on eBay for .99. We donated ours for a cat rescue auction, and it didn't sell at all, even at the 1.00 start, so I tossed it LOL.

 

Had a similar experience on RCL (Parkwest Galeries); We won a drawing for a print worth "$600". DW was very excited. It cost us $35 for shipping & handling and it showed up at our house. I did an ebay search and discovered this print was going for about $35. We got a good $35 laugh, and count it among our many unique cruise experiences. Heck, it was far less $$$ than a shore excursion.

[Cindylu2001]

We were on the Golden back in May on the Coastal cruise. We went to the auction for the free, cheap, not to good tasting champagne (Same brand that our steward served us in our mini suite?). My wife entered our names for the drawing that would be awarded at the last auction. We attended that auction again for the free champagne and we completely forgot that we entered the drawing so we stayed until they picked the winners. I happen to be one of the winners. I got to choose a limited edition signed lithograph from an artist that I never heard of. I had to fill out and sign a form which said that $20.00 would be taken out of my ship account for shipping of the art piece to my home. I asked the art director what the value of the piece was and he quoted $600 to $700. I thought to myself at that time "yeah right". Because the lithograph was going to be sent unframed, the art director offered the winners a special frame offer for I think was $150. I passed. A week after we got home the artwork arrived by FEDEX. My print was numbered 1/400 and signed by the artist. I checked on the internet about the artist but she does not list the value of her art unless you email her and that the lithograph that I won is only being sold or auction on the Princess Cruise. I did some research on what a famous Hawaiian artist limited edition lithographs were selling for and it ranged from $150 to $200. We took the lithograph to a framer here in Honolulu and the art consultant (that's what they are called) was impressed that the piece was 1/400. After picking a frame, matting and glass the total cost to frame the piece was $375!!! It was painful to pull out my credit card from my wallet but I paid for it. A week later I picked it up from the framer and it really does look like $600 piece of art. It's now hanging on our wall.

 

We LOVE the art auctions. We actually have 4 "free" art pieces that are still in the tubes they mailed them in. Actually, they make good gifts.

[Jeff Y]

I get that feeling EVERY time I attend an auction. We've been to several onboard the various cruise lines and even went to a Park West auction at home by invitation which included a free dinner. I noticed one gentleman bidding on about 7 or 8 lots. He must have also spent about $25,000. I turned to my wife and said the I bet he's a plant who's job it is to make it look like a good investment. Some folks who may not have bought art did so probably thinking that if this fellow is shelling out that kind of money this must be a good investment. I DID enjoy the free meal but went home without anything new to put on my walls. LET THE BUYER BEWARE...

[TracieABD]

I get that feeling EVERY time I attend an auction. We've been to several onboard the various cruise lines and even went to a Park West auction at home by invitation which included a free dinner. I noticed one gentleman bidding on about 7 or 8 lots. He must have also spent about $25,000. I turned to my wife and said the I bet he's a plant who's job it is to make it look like a good investment. Some folks who may not have bought art did so probably thinking that if this fellow is shelling out that kind of money this must be a good investment. I DID enjoy the free meal but went home without anything new to put on my walls. LET THE BUYER BEWARE...

Interesting perspective... Thanks!:)

[tigragirl]

we went to a couple of auctions on Ruby a couple of weeks ago. A family of four spent a fortune - the cheapest piece was just over $1,000 the dearest over $70,000. Each one of them bought at least one piece of art and apart for the cheapest and the dearest the prices were $30,000-$40,000. I tell you it was a bit of an eye opener.

 

The cruise before had been full of artists and the takings that cruise had been MASSIVE.

 

I liked the Bill Mack pieces and some abstract pieces but made do with photos of them:D

[AFT_LOVER]

Fed Ex ground is $85. The tube is $20 with the rolled piece. $50% off framing at Michaels is the steal. I won a painting for my BD, they charged $20 to send it to our home 4 days later. My letter carrier tells us about Michaels, so I hit their web site for 50% off coupon & took the painting to them. $60 for a mahongany frame, a wine color velvet backing which makes it looks like $million$. Then I got Annabelle from the French artist who does all golfers portraits for the green, yellow & whatever jackets they wear. $210 they wanted to frame it, so my artist cousin did it from $80 with gold bands around ebony wood and black satin backing. We also got 5 small paintings from 5 cruises that I framed from free broken wood at Lowes that I stained. Learned the cutting on HGTV. They look great. Even gave one to the Manager there.

 

 

So, based on the OP's experience, it sounds like the $150 framing offer from Princess was reasonable...

 

Does the $150 framing price include shipping of the now bigger item or is that extra?

 

If you buy the framing, does the $20 shipping charge still apply?

[shepp]

If you like it, then it's worth it. Yes.

 

But...not to sound negative, but...well, yeah, to sound negative...onboard art auctions are notorious scams. Notorious. Here's one case study: http://www.salvadordalifakes.com/articles/dali-prints-forgery.php

 

If you really want art for your walls, I'd suggest going to a local gallery and buying something, thereby supporting an artist instead of lining the pockets of well-known thieves. Of course, if you've just gotten email informing you that you inherited 6 million dollars from a previously unknown relative in Nigeria, by all means, spend away!

[Talisker92]

That story reminds me of a beautiful original painting I bought for about $25 in China. After the double matting, frame and non-glare glass is is now a $150 painting!!

[RickEk]

If you like it, then it's worth it. Yes.

 

But...not to sound negative, but...well, yeah, to sound negative...onboard art auctions are notorious scams. Notorious. Here's one case study: http://www.salvadordalifakes.com/articles/dali-prints-forgery.php

 

If you really want art for your walls, I'd suggest going to a local gallery and buying something, thereby supporting an artist instead of lining the pockets of well-known thieves. Of course, if you've just gotten email informing you that you inherited 6 million dollars from a previously unknown relative in Nigeria, by all means, spend away!

 

On one Princess cruise, the art director spent some time talking about the Dali forgeries that were circulating. Princess apparently verifies that the Dalis that they are selling are authentic. The site you reference seems to villify only Park West... not Princess. Park West is the "notorious" auction house. I've been happy with the few purchases that I've made from Princess...

[shepp]

On one Princess cruise, the art director spent some time talking about the Dali forgeries that were circulating. Princess apparently verifies that the Dalis that they are selling are authentic. The site you reference seems to villify only Park West... not Princess. Park West is the "notorious" auction house. I've been happy with the few purchases that I've made from Princess...

 

 

My bad! I just did a bit more research and found that Princess is the only major line that doesn't use Park West, for which they earn my respect. (Someone else mentioned Park West, and I guess I jumped to conclusions...)

[LoveThisCruisingThing]

Finally a positive piece about the art auctions. I love going to them. Each time I learn something and have started bidding on pieces I like. I think my greatest buy was a lithograph from Wyland. I never thought I would be able to own something from him. On my last Alaskan cruise, I thought I would like but not buy. However, a piece by a Jewish artist caught my eye and I got it. It is called "Passover II". I now own 4 pieces of art from the auction. I will continue to go to them and keep my eyes open. I bought my first home last year and I still have some blank spaces on my walls. LOL

[Redwing55]

Way to go. One point though, and one poster mentioned Micheal's and 50 percent off. I don't know how one can get a half way reasonable framing done for $60.

If one is thinking about framing and likes the options on board, do it. I find that those are about 1/2 to 1/3 from what I found when I got home.

 

Next time I "win" a print and I'm thinking of getting it framed, I'll pull the trigger on the ship- no question.