[Richard]

Hi guys,

I am not Damien's biggest fan - and I think most of his work is pants!

BUT - I am fond of his spot pieces because of their iconic nature and am fairly keen to purchase one.

Does anybody have any idea what ones I could get for £3k or less?

Any help would be appreciated!

Also, if you have one you want to sell to a good home PM me! ;D

Cheers.

[mose]

Sept 21, 2008 14:54:18 GMT 1 Richard said:

Hi guys,

I am not Damien's biggest fan - and I think most of his work is pants!

BUT - I am fond of his spot pieces because of their iconic nature and am fairly keen to purchase one.

Does anybody have any idea what ones I could get for £3k or less?

Any help would be appreciated!

Also, if you have one you want to sell to a good home PM me! ;D

Cheers.

Be very, very careful. Many fakes. I personally would not buy unless Eyestorm had checked it out(or buy from them direct).

[craigf]

Pretty good advice. I would really like a spot print as well, but less than £3k is possible on ebay maybe, but it would be a lucky buy. I have been looking to get one over the last 6 months or so, but the one I really want is too large for any of my walls and I've not been 100% sure re some of the others I have seen and been able to afford.

[Richard]

Don't mind going to eBay - a big Spin print went for £4.5k recently so I reckon you could get a small one for £2-3k privately.

Will be sure to check prov - thanks for advice - keep it coming!

[Winter]

I bought an Opium from Eyestorm in 2000 so know it's the real deal. Some friends of mine bought a Valium from some people in Derbyshire through ebay who were selling fakes. They bought it, took it to Eyestorm who checked it out and even spoke to the printers to ask about the stock they were printed on. Eyestorm have a way to tell so only buy through them. My friends took the print back to the people who they bought it from who handed them back their money without challenge. My friends eventually bought a Valium that had belonged to one of the directors of Eyestorm.

[mose]

Sept 21, 2008 15:30:45 GMT 1 Richard said:

Don't mind going to eBay - a big Spin print went for £4.5k recently so I reckon you could get a small one for £2-3k privately.

Will be sure to check prov - thanks for advice - keep it coming!

It's good that you don't mind going to eBay, but do you mind buying a fake?

Buying on price with these Hirst pieces is not wise. Spend the extra to obtain with Eyestorm involved or realize your money was likely spent on a pretty piece of nothing.

Some reading for you:

entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article665880.ece

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6034465.stm

www.artinfo.com/news/story/22695/art-news-auction-houses-on-alert-for-forged-hirsts/?printer_friendly=1

[weaver]

Cant agree with mose enough, between the chap in california pumping them out on his wallpaper printing press and the lot down south, there is too much chance in buying a hirst without cast iron prov, and you need to wonder why someone would let a genuine hirst go for half of its true value from a reputable source? I have been looking at these pieces for a while now and have to agree that eyestorm HAS to be the way to go to ensure its good. Its amazing what paying that little bit extra now for a verified genuine print will be worth in 30 years time.

[Winter]

In 20, 30, 40 years time when people realise their pension is a cheap fake there's going to be tears.

I'm not on commission but go to Eyestorm direct. They have an Opium for 5.5k.

There are other later editions which are not eyestorm and come with solid provenance. Lieberman has one:
www.liebermangallery.com/art.php?id=783

[andrewd]

Andipa have an exhibition of Hirst prints at the moment. They're all for sale. www.andipamodern.com

[Richard]

Cheers - I have sent them an email requesting prices a few days back. Still waiting to hear back from them.

[weaver]

Sept 21, 2008 18:03:09 GMT 1 Richard said:

Cheers - I have sent them an email requesting prices a few days back. Still waiting to hear back from them.

They can be quite flexible if you go through their resale system, where they buy back prints from the original owners, check and certify the pieces and resell, dont accept the first quote they give you, you may be able to talk them down some.

[Richard]

What would you guys consider a "good" price for Opium?

Obviously it is harder to gage as these don't sell on eBay often. Cheers!

[weaver]

Sept 22, 2008 13:28:28 GMT 1 Richard said:

What would you guys consider a "good" price for Opium?

Obviously it is harder to gage as these don't sell on eBay often. Cheers!

Slightly turning that round, the price for a good opium - £4-5K

[banksman]

ANDIPA have quite a few different examples for sale

www.andipamodern.com/WorksbyHIRSTDAMIEN.htm

B.................................

[Rude Copper]

just to add to this,
i had a californian version of valium which was submitted to eyestorm for authentication, & was subsequently revealed to be a copy, however be under no delusion as to how good these copies are, it came with a reciept, a coa, & the actual print was almost impossible to tell from the official version. a friend of mine has the real mccoy, & it litraly is identical, apart from two things.
be very very careful about this, or you'll stand to lose a lot of money.(i did'nt btw, the guy refunded in full, plus exes, after complaint was made).

[BlackRatPress]

dont buy the lambda eyestorm prints - they are effectively photographs - buy the etchings - lovely quality

[sjh]

I have an Opium with a reissued Eyestorm COA direct from them (which is an absolute must as already discussed). I paid £4,600. However, although I love it I would agree with BlackRatPress about if you can afford it (and not many of us can!!) then go for an etching rather than a Lambda print.

[stillborncrisps]

Could someone please educate me as to how things like the Opium and Valiums discussed here were released?

Are they a limited edition? Were they released over time or in one go? Are there variants in sizes or colour? I assume there are originals of these too?

Just trying to work it all out, and see how it all works compared to say, Banksy releases, which I know a bit more about. :^)

[Richard]

Sept 22, 2008 15:06:20 GMT 1 BlackRatPress said:

dont buy the lambda eyestorm prints - they are effectively photographs - buy the etchings - lovely quality

My name isn't Abromavitch. Sadly.

[GB]

whats the ball park figure for an etching? £7-9k? would also love to get my hands on one of these....

[Richard]

Sept 22, 2008 16:47:16 GMT 1 stillborncrisps said:

Could someone please educate me as to how things like the Opium and Valiums discussed here were released?

Are they a limited edition? Were they released over time or in one go? Are there variants in sizes or colour? I assume there are originals of these too?

Just trying to work it all out, and see how it all works compared to say, Banksy releases, which I know a bit more about. :^)

Opium is an edition of 500 (signed) released by Eyestorm. I believe.

[craigf]

I want a valium, but don't have the space or reddies. There is one hanging in the first class lounge of Terminal 5 by the food area. I lovingly looked at it today and wondered whether I could stick it on my back, say sod it to the flight to Paris and take it home

[sjh]

The signatures on the Valiums have been know to vanish because of the pen Hirst used to sign some of them.

[sonofwezzley]

I heard that too, they are literally fading away....if you see one with a fresh clear sig - be very cautious!

[fatherxmas]

Theres a small one for sale on the bay

[jonpud]

Paint one yourself and save a fortune!

[mafekingnuns]

It's true, some of the signatures on Valium do fade. I've got one hanging on my wall and have been watching the signature gradually disappear over the years.

[sjh]

Apparently after some battles with Other Criteria Hirst has resigned some hence the so called "one offs" that Opus Art have that have more than Hirsts signature on.

[Richard]

That's pathetic really. Is it a problem on the Opium print?

[sjh]

No it's not a known problem on the Opiums.