ADEC Art Price Indicator, Latin American Artists, Gordon's '98: ArtBusiness.com

ADEC Art Price Indicator, Latin American Artists, Gordon's '98

Fantastic New Art Price Reference for Only $19.95

Click for 2004 ADEC artprice CD-ROM and online art price database reviews.

*** Note posted November 25, 2000: Since this article was originally published in 1998, it has come to our attention that the ADEC/Art Price Group is engaging in questionable tactics in order to improve their positioning on major search engines. Read Alert: Artprice.com Clogs Search Engines With "Decoy" Websites to find out more. ***

ADEC (short for Annuaire des Cotes Moyennes) is fast becoming the world's leading resource for art auction price information. Earlier this year, they took over Falk's Art Price Index, America's number one art auction price reference publisher, and will incorporate its databases into subsequent ADEC art price annuals. The even bigger news is that for the first time anywhere, ADEC has published a book called the Art Price Indicator which contains well over 100,000 auction records of paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and photographs by 50,000 artists from around the world.

So what's the big deal, you ask? The Art Price Indicator sells for an unbelievably low $19.95!!! In the past, you would have had to pay $100 to $200 or more for this amount of information. And even though the book is nearly 1800 pages long, it's still small enough to take along with you whenever you're out in the field. I've gotta tell you folks-- in the fifteen years that I've been writing this column and reviewing art reference books, I've never seen any single publication that succeeds like the Art Price Indicator does in combining quality, comprehensiveness, portability, and affordability.

The Art Price Indicator is a quick and easy way to ballpark average auction selling prices for listed artists. Under each artist's name are individual price results of works of art that have sold at auction. Each entry includes selling price, title, size, place and date of sale, medium, and type of art. Most artists have one or two entries; more famous ones like Picasso have between ten and thirty. Each artist's birth and death dates are listed as well as the total number of works by that artist that have been sold at auction and recorded by ADEC since 1987 (Chagall has 1,437 entries, for example).

As with any abbreviated price guide, use Art Price Indicator to approximate value rather than to accurately appraise works of art. It's a perfect jumping off point for further research in more comprehensive ADEC publications such as their annual auction record compendiums, their CD-ROM with ten years of sales totaling 1.3 million auction records, and their websites, www.artmarket.com and www.artprice.com. Show ADEC that you support their efforts to make quality auction price guides affordable for everyone and buy your copy of Art Price Indicator today. It's the best art book bargain I've ever seen.

Art Price Indicator International, ADEC Art Price Annual S.A., St. Romain au Mt. D'Or, France, 1998, softbound, 1792 pages, 4 3/4 by 7 1/4 inches, $19.95.
Available from Dealer's Choice Books, Inc., PO Box 710, Land O'Lakes, FL 34639 or call toll-free 1-800-ART-AMER.

***

Latin American Artist Signature Directory

John Castagno continues in his apparent quest to document every significant artist's signature on this planet with the release of his sixth directory, Latin American Artists' Signatures and Monograms, Colonial Era to 1996. His five other directories are the best in their fields and his sixth is equally superior. It lists 1,100 artists and includes 1,650 signature examples.

This book marks a bit of a departure for Castagno as he has enhanced the amount of data contained within each entry to the point where it effectively doubles as an artist dictionary. In addition to signature examples, he includes thumbnail biographies, birth and death dates, nationalities, group and solo exhibitions, awards, reviews, articles, literature where further information can be found, and even recent price information when available. Latin American art is more popular than ever and this directory fills an important gap in available research materials. I highly recommend it.

Latin American Artists' Signatures and Monograms, Colonial Era to 1996 by John Castagno, Scarecrow Press, Inc., Lanham, MD, 1997, hardbound, 688 pages, 8 3/4 by 11 1/4 inches, $145.
Available from Scarecrow Press, Inc., 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, MD 20706 or call toll-free 1-800-462-6420.

***

Gordon's Print Price Annual is Still the Best

Gordon's Print Price Annual is the world's leading guide to fine print prices at auction and has been so for the past 21 years. The 1998 edition contains over 50,000 records of graphics that have sold at auction worldwide. Print categories include Old Master, modern, contemporary, decorative, historical, and Japanese; poster catagories include vintage, fine art, and film; book catagories include illustrated books, livres d'artiste, and books and periodicals with original graphics; and sales results for Picasso ceramics have been thrown in for good measure.

What separates Gordon's from other auction records and price guides is that Gordon's entries are substantially better researched and detailed. They contain information about impression quality, paper type, condition, and margins when made available by the auction houses. Prints are grouped together by title, titles are translated to those of the catalogues raisonne, and incorrect titles are corrected. Edition sizes, states, catalogue raisonne numbers, and other essential data are also included in many entries. Buy-ins are listed alongside sold prints with identical titles and records for lower priced prints can also be found as Gordon's has no price cut-offs.

Make Gordon's your first choice whenever you have to research fine print auction prices. No other compendium even comes close.

Gordon's Print Price Annual 1998 edited by Jodie L. Benson, Gordon's Art Reference, Inc., Phoenix, 1998, hardbound, 1996 pages, 8 3/4 by 11 1/4 inches, $225.
Available from Gordon's Art Reference, Inc., 306 West Coronado Road, Phoenix, AZ 85003-1147 or call 1-800-892-4622 or email their website at http://www.gordonart.com.