Found: Basenji prints
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Wow. What an awesome find!!!!
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WOW! They are fantastic.
REALLY big important advice. DO NOT CLEAN til you let professional evaluate. Sometimes just cleaning them up can make them nearly worthless. Get professional advice on them. Wow. Congrats on such a wonderful find!
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Agree with all of above! Be sure your frame shop knows how to 'restore', or care for valuable vintage prints. Restoration can be relatively expensive, but adds to the value of your
prints in the long run. You are indeed lucky to have found these prints, treasure them! It may be a sign that you will be 'basenji people' forever! -
Be sure your frame shop knows how to 'restore', or care for valuable vintage prints.
I could be wrong, but I doubt that a "frame shop" will know anything about restoration of pictures; however, they may be able to give you a lead to a restorer. Or, if they can't, check with museums that deal mainly in art work or even places that sell art work (as opposed to places that just frame art work) and ask them to refer you to a restorer.
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I agree with LindaH. I work in a museum (natural history not art) and you need to contact someone who restores paintings not just a framer. You have a wonderful find and something that can be passed down for generations to come. But they need to be properly cared for. I don't know anyone in Florida but you could contact the Midwest Art Conservation Center for help: info@preserveart.org or their website: http://www.preserveart.org/
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All of you have been so wonderfully helpful. I can't thank you enough. I would not have done the right thing. Now I will. And, again, I will post when I have found out more. @wizard:
I agree with LindaH. I work in a museum (natural history not art) and you need to contact someone who restores paintings not just a framer. You have a wonderful find and something that can be passed down for generations to come. But they need to be properly cared for. I don't know anyone in Florida but you could contact the Midwest Art Conservation Center for help: info@preserveart.org or their website: http://www.preserveart.org/
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Thank you for appreciating the prints. My son is eager to have them hang in his room, so we will most likely keep them.:) Thanks, though.@krunzer:
Wow those pics are absolutely beautiful!!! If you are looking at possibly selling them I would definately be interested in one of them. Congrats on your find!
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Most of the prints I have seen included some color on some small part of some of the subjects. The color appeared hand done as the ones I have and others I have seen do not have the same colors, but usually the same areas were colored. If they are signed they could be very valuable. Not something to be treated lightly.
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the prints are lovely and realy interesting. Good luck having them restored and enjoy them
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Wow, I was just reading everyone's input and knowledgeable input at that! Those prints are so neat a find! I find that the depiction of the Basenji is so close to what we can see in our domesticated breed of today. My husband (who I don't give enough credit to sometimes….)even saw how the legs on the B on the guy's shoulder were extended straight out- Love the detail, and as B owners, we all can appreciate the detail I am sure!
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I should have included this in my first post.
Do they have a bamboo type frame around them?
Gee, I don't know. I just went and looked at the frames. Actually they could be bamboo. They are very hard and dense, so hard I thought they were a colored plastic. But there is a grain, and whoever framed them had them framed with non-glare glass. I would think if they had them framed by a frame shop and used non-glare glass, they wouldn't use plastic frames. Does it mean anything if the frame is bamboo? Only one of the four is signed. And the signature is so faded that I couldn't make it out until CongoMama told me who had done them.
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I forget the years that the original prints were advertised for sale, but they were sold in sets of four and they were offered unframed and framed. I may be remembering wrong but I believe they were advertised for $15.00 for the set of four or $25.00 for the set of four framed. Obviously that was MANY years ago. I believe the framed ones were framed in bamboo or a bamboo look alike. That is why I asked about the frames.
If they are originals they are definately coveted by many people and worth quite a lot, so please take care with them.
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The artists full name is John Fulton Short (Congomama - note the correct spelling of Fulton), Short being the third name you can not make out Holly.
You can read about him here:
http://johnfultonmatador.com/biography.html
Pretty interesting life, IMO.
I will scour my old Bulletin and/or BASENJI issues to see if I can learn more.
