AMERICAN FOLK ART PAINTING 19th C BASEBALL PORTRAIT LARRY NAPOLEON 'NAP' LAJOIE
 

This is on ebay right now...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMERICAN-FOL...item56478fd121

Its certainly cool, but its done by a local artist. Its brand new..I usually don't call things out, but I don't want anyone to think they are buying a 100 year old portrait.

Matt

Painting
 

Sellers Response:
"Thanks for writing. As it states under the ASK A QUESTION in the listing, this painting was part of a large collection of folk art Americana that sold at a recent {ennsylvania auction. There were over 4 dozen paintings, many of which were signed and dated from 1870s to 1920s; many others however were unsigned, most notably the baseball themed paintings...another example from this lot was an ANSON CAP Painting which was unsigned but dated 1876 which was sold recently on ebay. Several different buyers including myself purchased the various pieces comprising the lot which would explain why similar pieces can be and have been sold on ebay in recent weeks. The date of this painting is not known but the frame is a gesso bowed glass frame which can date to as early as 1880s so that should be of little influence. If I knew exactly when this paintin weas made I would have stated such in the listing. Thanks again."

Sounds like creative Estate BS......

Matt,
Any other info on the local artist? Something to point to with other examples of his/her work for comparison and/or proof that it is not the work of a long-dead folk artist? Sounds like there may be a number of pieces attributed to them that are bound for or have already passed through eBay...

In other words, if I remain vague enough maybe someone will think it is old.

I was thinking maybe this one falls into the same category?:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/250938224567...84.m1423.l2649

Seems to be the exact piece that the seller referred to in his response quoted above.

Note that "Very Skilled Style of 19th Century Americana" does not equal "Americana Painted in the 19th Century".

Looks like I'm in the wrong line of work. I need to start picking up some antique frames and slapping down some lousy [I mean, "folksy"] portraits of 19th-century ballplayers. Better yet, I'll just get some big rocks and scratch stick figures and buffalo on them in the "Primitive Style of Ancient Cave Drawings" and start hawking those. That's more in line with my skill level as an artist anyway :p

I have a Walter Johnson I bought from him (the artist) last week. I passed on the Lajoie on Friday morning. He'll paint anything you want and his prices aren't bad. The Anson was by him-$910 is crazy. If I was dishonest, I would buy them all and list them as antique.
Matt

Bringing up an old subject.. here are a few I bought from the guy.

his stuff was all over the Philly area flea markets this morning. Different vendors had a different story depnding on who you asked.

The ones who had the art priced reasonabe told the truth, the ones who had the high prices were selling them as vintage