Selling a Warhol
His prints trade constantly, which makes an estimate arguable from evidence — and makes a failed lot conspicuous.
Before any of this is useful you need to know what you have. The catalogue number, and who signed it covers how that is settled, and what sets the value covers what follows from it. This page is about the sale itself.
Two routes, and they are different products
| Consideration | Public auction | Private sale |
|---|---|---|
| Time to funds | 2–4 months | 2–6 weeks |
| Seller's cost | Commission, plus photography, insurance and an unsold fee | Our fee, agreed in advance — typically none |
| Price ceiling | Highest, where the edition is sought and the colour is fresh | Close to auction, without the downside |
| If it does not sell | A public unsold record follows the work | Nothing is published; you keep the work |
| Best when | Signed impressions of the known images, and complete portfolios | Common editions, faded sheets, thin provenance, or where discretion matters |
We broker private sales, so treat the second column as an interested party’s account of its own product. Check it against what an auction specialist tells you before you decide.
The unsold record matters more here, not less
A work that fails to sell at auction is recorded as such in the price databases every serious buyer consults, and that record follows it. In a thin market a single failed lot can be dismissed as bad luck. Warhol editions are not a thin market: they trade often enough that a buyer can see exactly how your sheet performed against a dozen comparable ones, and an unsold result sits in that sequence permanently. It is the strongest argument for pricing an estimate to sell rather than to flatter.
What we do, in order
01Photographs of the full sheet and its reverse
Margins included, not the image cropped to its edges. The margins carry the signature, the numbering and the paper, and the reverse carries the stamps. More Warhol questions are settled from the back of a sheet than from the front.
02The category, before anything else
Authorised edition, estate impression, print after Warhol, or poster. These are different markets and several of them look alike framed, so nothing useful can be said about value until this is settled.
03The catalogue number and the paperwork
We place the sheet against its entry in the Feldman & Schellmann catalogue and gather whatever documentation exists — the invoice, the gallery of first sale, old condition reports. With no authentication board since 2011, this is what a saleroom actually relies on.
04A written valuation, and then the route
A realistic range with the comparable results behind it, so you can see the reasoning rather than take a figure on trust. Then auction or private sale, and if auction, which house and which sale. We negotiate the seller's terms rather than accept a published rate card. No charge, and no obligation to proceed.
05Condition, honestly stated
Fading, trimming and old tape are disclosed rather than discovered, because a specialist finds them anyway and a surprise at the condition-report stage costs more than the fault did.
06Completion
Paperwork and remittance stay in your name throughout, and you keep legal title until the funds are cleared.
Common questions
Where is the best place to sell a Warhol print?
It depends on the edition. The sought images in good colour belong in a dedicated prints and multiples sale at an international house in London or New York, where the buyers for them are already in the room. Commoner editions and faded sheets frequently do better privately or at a regional saleroom that handles the material regularly. We compare the two before recommending either.
Should I sell a portfolio as a set or sheet by sheet?
Have it valued as a set first. Most portfolios were broken up decades ago, so a complete one with its colophon and case is scarcer than any print in it and is often worth more whole. Splitting it is a decision that cannot be undone, so it is worth taking deliberately rather than by default.
My print has faded. Is it still worth selling?
Usually, though the estimate reflects it and the route may change. Fading is permanent and a specialist sees it immediately, so it is disclosed at the outset. A faded sheet often sells better privately than at auction, where it is compared directly against fresher impressions of the same image.
What does it cost to sell at auction?
Seller's commission, insurance, cataloguing and, if the work does not sell, an unsold fee. We set out how each of those works on our selling at auction page, and we negotiate them on your behalf rather than accepting a published rate card.
How long does the whole thing take?
At auction, two to four months from consignment to cleared funds, driven by the sale calendar rather than by us. Privately, two to six weeks. If timing matters more than the last few per cent of the price, say so at the outset, because it changes what we would recommend.
Whitebank Fine Art is an art advisory and gallery, not an auction house, and is not affiliated with the Andy Warhol Foundation, the artist’s estate, his publishers or any auction house. Nothing here is investment advice.
Send photographs of the full sheet, its margins and its reverse. A valuation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.