We bought some paintings from an Israeli door-to-door salesman. I bet you've never heard that sentence before.
Suzette called me at work and said that a man was selling very nice original oil paintings. They were pretty expensive, at least to us, since most of our artwork has been purchased for $50 or less, but we considered buying one of the small ones. She said the paintings were very good. She asked him to return when I came home from work.
He showed us about 20 original oil paintings on rolled-up canvases. He had an accent so we asked where he was from - an Israeli accent is very hard to place. He was very intent on pleasing us, and showed off the paintings and made suggestions for which would match our decor. We ended up buying two - a small one and a big one. They are almost identical - Paris street scenes with the Eiffel Tower. One now resides over the fireplace in our family room and the big one is in the living room. The salesman was actually the artist that painted our paintings.
There were some other paintings that we really liked of Mediterranean scenes and typical French or Italian hill towns, but those were all tall rather than wide, and we don't have a good spot for them.
The story is that a group of art students are opening a gallery in New York. They sold paintings in the Batavia area last year, and decided to come back again this year. The paintings are all original oils by these students.
My neighbor is convinced that this is a scam. I ask him, "What's the scam? I have two beautiful original oil paintings that I love at a fair price." Sure, it's sounds funny that paintings are being sold door-to-door, but unless they're stolen, I can't imagine what the scam is.
The artist suggested a local friend who does framing. We checked at Michael's and JoAnn's, and framing is outrageously expensive. $1000 for two paintings - with a coupon you can get it for $500. We invited the local framer to come over. He was also Israeli, and really wanted to please us. He showed us all the frames with our paintings and made suggestions. Framing a canvas oil painting involves more than just sticking it in a frame. You must stretch the canvas over a homemade frame and staple it. We picked some frames, and he would frame the paintings and return them in a week. Now that's the part that might sound like a scam - you just bought some paintings from one guy, and now another guy is going to take those paintings and frame them. Hmm, would they ever return? But they let you choose any painting as collateral - so you pick another painting that you really like and keep it until they return your framed paintings.
Of course, the framed paintings were returned in a week and we really like them. The photo is the big one. No, it's not crooked, I just can't shoot straight.
- Mike
11 comments:
Last night I went round to a friends house and guess what. He had an Israeli artist in his living room with a number of oil paintings on canvas..
Funny thing is that he had the exact photo on your wall but in black and white, it looked v nice by the way. Of course all the work is original and you won't find it any where else...is that not the scam??
Suppose it depends on how much you pay for them at the end of the day, the artist(sales man) is back on Friday to see him. Can I be cheeky and ask how much you paid?
Wow! It's a small world. They never said anything about the paintings being original...frankly it doesn't matter to me since it's an oil painting and not a print.
Our salesman was the artist - his name was something like Shahar Shumenfeld - I would be very curious to find out if this salesman is the same one.
If you post your email address, I'll let you know what I paid.
Maybe the "scam" is that these guys buy paintings from students in countries with devalued currency and sell them door-to-door in more prosperous countries. There are no import taxes or whatever since they don't have an actual business. If the painting was painted by a US student, it would be worth a few hundred dollars just in time spent to paint it. But I wouldn't call that a scam, just smart business.
- schneid
Yep agreed it is a small world...Check out this little post too from a forum in Australia, looks like this scam is world wide....
Oil Painting Scam..
I doubt very much that the salesman was the artist but i'll find out the name of my friends salesman to see if the same name is used.
I agree with the time spent etc for a true artist to paint it and therefore the cost...but surely there is now a machine somewhere out there that can probably mass produce this kind of thing.
Anyway would much appreciate you firing through the costs...my email is mark(at)grifnett.com..
I will just like to let you all know.
The artist selling art door to door is some thing that is happening around the world.
It is not a scam, even if the sales person say that he/she is an artist, what you are getting is real art painted on canvas with oil.
I have been working as a one of this people my self and will say that people do not understand that these sales people are normally travelers trying to earn some money so that they can continue traveling.
They normally make 20-50$ from a sale if they sell any thing.
some of them so for a few good days until they get a sale.
There is a machine that print canvases but this is not what you are getting at the door, what you get is a 100% hand painted oil on canvas, made in china (like most things today).
You can fined good art like that in good prices at this website I found www.rtgallery.com
If you like more info please let me know.
Well, these art students have hit South Africa. I researched "Israeli art scam" on the internet, and what happened to us seem pretty similar to everyone else's experiences. Only I've been told by a friend that these people come into your house, then one of them asks to use the bathroom, and instead of going to the bathroom, he/she ends up snooping through the house and stealing jewelery/cellphones etc. We couldn't pick up that anything of ours is missing, although one of the people did ask to go to the bathroom and they did ask for "a glass of water".
Other than that, maybe I just paid too much for my painting. But still, it's disconcerting knowing that people can be so deliberately deceiving.
A beautiful young Israeli women came to Murrietta, CA to sell paintings. I bought a painting of the ocean for $100. Was I ripped off. I really like the painting but now I fear it is worthless. The painter was Ben Holburg or something like that. Her name is Romi and she had a number for a guy that would frame it. She was very pushy, but very charming.
I don't think you should feel ripped off. $100 is a reasonable price to pay for a painting that you like. Clearly we didn't get 100% accurate information about the origin of the painting, but it's a nice painting.
- schneid
Schneid......you got ripped off. That scam is going around the world. A girl named Maria with a russian accent tried to sell me the same oil painting that is your picture. She was pushy and wanted to come in my house very badly. I asked her to leave. I did some research and found that they're oil reproductions that are made in China. You can buy them for about 5 dollars. Sorry you got scamed.
P.S. If you paid with a check these people are known to steal your account info from the check and print fake checks with your account number and routing number. So watch for large checks to department stores with someone elses name on it coming out of your account.
This artist is well travelled although the story now is that he wants to open a gallery in London. He is now operating in Edinburgh...be warned
I sold paintings like this 25 years ago in London. They are made in China. We went door to door and could tell just by peeking in the window what the.persons taste was and which paintings to show. I never claimed to make them. We paid 20 pounds for any paintings we sold and got bonuses at the end.of the month for higher numbers so it was worth it to sell them for less to reach a higher target. I would not sell to the elderly or.others onfixed incomes. Sold 6 at.a.time to yuppies who had new houses with empty walls. They got something that went.with their furnishings and someone with more.confidence.in decorating to help them with the.process. I didn't know.they were.mass produced for.months and then stopped selling them because it didn't feel right. If you like your painting then enjoy it andlnow.you helped a.young traveler fund their journey.
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