Vintage Paint-by-Number!

In your stops at thrift stores, garage sales, consignment shops, keep your eyes out for these now-vintage paint-by-number oil paintings. Some are AMAZINGLY well-done. (The ones I tried when I was a kid, were decidedly amateurish and, I'm sure not something someone would buy today if they saw them!)

I have bought several over the past few years, and some went onto eBay, and they sold easily and sold well. I do really regret letting a few of them go.

From what I learned in my research for my eBay listings, the paint-by-numbers are more valuable if framed in their original frame (like the two above and some of those shown below) that came with the kits.

Some people collect only landscapes, some only seascapes. The ones that are most valuable now are paintings that depict a historical event, such as the first mission to the moon.

Some want any or all and don't care what the subject is! They make a grouping of them and somehow it just works!

(I give you three guesses at the ones I wish I'd kept!)

This work is flawless; VERY well done. Compare it to the puppy painting in the first photo. This one is so much finer. The puppy one is good and so much better than I could have done, but not as well-done as this.

Sorry, I'm needing a Kleenex right now. Excuse me, please.

Yes, they were a beautiful pair, done by the same elderly man, purchased at a garage sale just a couple miles from my house.... sniff.

And you have to say they're done so well, it's heartbreaking. I am so sorry that I let this pair go. It would have been PERFECT in my house.

(I knew not what I done did.)

This one sold easily and for good money even though there was a little stain in the upper right hand corner. The person who purchased it bought seascapes, harbor scenes and lighthouse paintings of all kinds.

This was a set of a famous clown; the pair was very expertly done the frames intact.... I did quite well because I think I paid less than a dollar for the pair. This one COULDN'T stay in my house if I'd wanted it, because one of my sons is creeped out by clowns and I just can't do it to him!

So, you might want to take a second look at the ugly stack of paintings on the bottom shelf of the Salvation Army store, and at garage sales (I usually find them UNDER tables for some reason!). You just might like collecting these beauties, too!

(The top painting is very small and very appropriate for my vintage children's toy/guest room that I'll be doing this spring. So I'm keeping that. The second and third paintings of the trees, water and mountains are still here, too. I'm undecided on whether to keep them.)