Shropshire auction house enjoys continued success with signed Lowry prints

Shropshire auction house enjoys continued success with signed Lowry prints


15/08/2017    

Shropshire fine art auction house Halls is busy assembling paintings and prints for the company’s next fine pictures, silver, jewellery and coins sale on October 18.

Pictures specialist James Forster is particularly keen to attract prints by Laurence Stephen Lowry (1887-1976) for the auction at the Battlefield Salerooms in Shrewsbury, having achieved a series of successful sales in recent auctions.

In Halls’ March 2017 fine art auction, a signed print by Lowry, titled, ‘Level Crossing with train’ sold for £2,000. Two more signed Lowry prints titled ‘Great Ancoats Street’ and ‘Mrs Swindels’ Window’ achieved hammer prices of £1,950 and £2,000 in the same sale.

Mr Forster said this strength in the market for Lowry prints had been evident over the last few years.

“I suspect we are currently at or near the peak of the market for signed Lowry prints,” he said. “A premium is paid by collectors for his lithographs from the 1970s and 1980s but demand also extends to his signed photographic reproduction prints and this has been demonstrated by the high prices regularly achieved at auction.

“Whether this is sustainable long term is questionable with some of his earlier and more iconic signed prints making, in some cases, similar prices to his smaller original drawings. That to me is a sign of a market that could be starting to overheat.”

Lowry’s iconic depictions of Northern urban industrial landscapes appeal to an audience not just in the UK but also the USA. This Transatlantic appeal has played a significant role in rapidly increasingly auction prices over the last few years.

Halls currently has a signed Lowry print titled ‘St Marys, Beswick’ entered for sale in their October sale with a pre-sale estimate of £1,000 to £2,000.

‘Level Crossing with train’, a signed print by L. S. Lowry that sold for £2,000 at Halls.

If you would like to consign any pictures or more information about prints coming up for auction, please contact James Forster, head of Halls’ pictures department, Shrewsbury on Tel: 01743 450700 or by email at jamesf@hallsgb.com .

 


 

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