The trend continues.

Yup, it does. Reporting on the WPB show for May 1, 2 and 3, we once again had a whole bunch of small sales.
Listed artist, Caroline Norton, 16 x 12 oil, impressionist Florida Palm, $ 550.00
Listed artist, Paul Turner Sargent, 10 x 12 oil, impressionist/ abstract Palm group $ 600.00
Listed artist, Donald Curran, 8 x 10 oil, killer Key West street scene, $ 300.00
Listed artist Frederic Bates, small pencil sketch, maritime circa 1900 $ 175.00
Unsigned impressionist oil on board Florida bay with moored boats $ 180.00
Several other small sales, including a brighter than usual Harris print ( 1920's or 30's ) and a miniature hand colored J R Wilcox print circa 1890's.

I wish I could report some highwaymen sales, but no, they all happened the week before at our Gainesville show. At least those highwaymen paintings were good ones.
How about a special Alfred Hair, only 10 x 8 on canvasboard, for $ 4,000.00 ? And that was cheap for its rarity. Go to our website Hair page for a look.
(NOTE to the uninitiated: This does not make ALL Alfred Hairs worth $ 4000 or better, as much as we would LIKE them to be.)
We also sold, that weekend, a gorgeous masonite Harold pine tree portrait for $ 3500 and a Hair 24 x 18 river with flowers for $ 1500. Also another Harold, 24 x 18 on stretched canvas for a very reasonable $ 1500. Of course, all our prices are very reasonable. All four of these paintings went to three different savvy, experienced collectors of highwayman art. People who "know what they're doing." May God bless them and keep them.

Although the Safety Harbor Museum 10th annual highwayman extrava-bazongo was scheduled to close the end of April, they have decided to extend it thru June, so I am leaving some inventory there to be available for sale, should anyone wish to visit. There are still 7 or 8 Harolds and a couple of Hairs, along with a Hezekiah signed A Black, a Lemuel, a couple of great Sams, and a 70's S M Wells.

If you live over here on the west coast, where there is less traffic and a slightly slower life style, a visit to the museum in the next few weeks will give you the opportunity to purchase an investment quality piece at or near the bottom of the market. Due to the recent activity with better pieces, I'm tempted to raise prices, but will hold the line just for you, gentle reader. A purchase will also help the museum, and that's a "good thing." We donate a percentage of all sales to benefit them.

In other highwaymen news, the newest book, the eighth highwaymen book, this one by Enns has been released. It is the best one yet. We are pleased to have bought and sold about twenty of the better works plated in the book. Ah yes, but alas, just like all the other books about the highwaymen market, it is a well written history book. Perhaps someday, I'll write about the other side of the story, the commercial side, the excitement and disappointments of a supply and demand market.

What, you didn't know there were eight books ? I'll list them for you.

The Highwaymen, Monroe 2001
Harold Newton, by his sister, Rosetta Humphries 2004
The Buckner Brothers, by Ellis Jr, 2004
The Highwaymen, Bob Beatty, 2006 softcover 2006
The Highwaymen, Beatty, expanded Hardcover edition, 2006
Harold Newton, Monroe 2007
Al Black's Prison Murals, Monroe 2009
The Highwaymen, Catherine Enns, 2009

You could say there are actually nine if you count the Ft Lauderdale Museum's publication of Highwaymen, Newton and Hair which kicked off their exhibit in 2006.

We won't count the Backus books, three of those plus a high quality exhibition catalog. He's not a highwayman, despite what some folks tell me at shows.

Until next time, gentle reader, don't let your meat loaf.