Expert: DJ Murphy - 9/25/2006

Question
A family member recently passed away and I was given a painting by John Dineen.  I had no idea who he was so I did some research and discovered that he was a well respected artist and just passed away about six months ago.  Another living family member told me that my deceased relative paid $6000 for it in 2002.  I am interested in finding out how much it is worth now and potentially interested in selling it. I contacted an art shop in Sarasota Florida that sells Dineen prints but he said he did not have the funds to buy such a piece of original artwork. Could you give me some tips on obtaining the value of the painting and how I could go about selling it?

Answer
Hello,

You might try a couple of local art galleries in your area because John Dineen was a FL artist and much of his work was tropical [Florida based].

Second you could try eBay and see what transpires vis a vis interest.

Or third, you could contact a NYC auction house and see if there has been any of his works auctioned....and this will give you an idea of the value of the work you inherited.  Here is their website:

http://www.doylenewyork.com/default.htm

Sorry I couldn't be of more help,

dj murphy