When writing “Pete Turner: Color, Content, Character” I saw an uptick in messages asking what happened to all the reproduction covers that were available for as little as $1.50, and the later $19.50 print on demand original prints?
The answer is again, I have no idea, without access to CTI books or invoices we don’t know how popular these were, I for one never thought to buy one, mostly because I was in the UK at the time and was sure the offer wouldn’t apply to me.
Others asked where they could buy copies or if they were ever for sale on ebay. The answer to the ebay question is almost never. I’ve never seen CTI reprints or print-on-demand Turner covers available on ebay. I’ve had a saved search set for around 8-years and never received a notification. It’s possible they were sold but the seller didn’t know they were by “Pete Turner” and they never showed up.
There are a number of art auction sites, MutualArt tends to be for more serious buyers and charges some $39 per month for a subscription with details of auctions and price history. MutualArt is an aggregator, they track and report on gallery and auction house sales. They do however send out email alerts for keyword searches. That’s how I heard about this Pete Turner original.
They’ve alerted me to numerous Pete Turner sales over the past three years. A couple of weeks back they alerted me to a sale of Pete Turner’s “Cheetah” photograph from Kenya in Africa, 1970.
It’s an authenticated, signed, framed dye coupler print. It is very large, 39 x 59 3/4 inches (99.1 x 151.8 cm). When I posted details on the ctproduced-instagram account[1]https://www.instagram.com/ctproduced/ I was out by a zero in my estimate of how much it would sell for, I should have written $15,000.
It turns out though that it sold on November 10th for $1,000 including the buyer’s premium. I was gutted. I had meant to set an alarm and participate in the auction; I personally would have bid up to $1200 just on the off chance.
Bruce Silverstein Gallery
The Silverstein Gallery is at 529 W20th St in Brooklyn NY, has both a gallery and exhibition space and regularly hosts events. They have a Pete Turner collection[2]Pete Turner – Artists – Bruce Silverstein and sell many of the pictures. I spoke to Bruce Silverstein briefly and he confirmed they have Turner works for sale that include signed works that came from Pete Turner’s estate. Silverstein said they don’t include prices on their website, potential buyers are welcome to contact the gallery.
I checked with artsy.net another aggregator and art sale website and they list a number of Silverstein Gallery items of Pete Turners[3]Search Results for ‘Pete Turner’ | Artsy. Artsy lists the “Road Song” picture as “Dye transfer print, printed c. 1976-1980”, Paper size: 11 x 14 inch, Hand-signed by artist, Signed and embossed on recto; and include
Certificate of authenticity issued by Silversteins with no frame.
There are currently 45-prints for sale listed on Artsy, they range from $6,000 to $12,000 for a 24×36″ print of the “cheetah”. As I said, a good starting point would be to contact Silverstein’s if you are seriously interested.
Do you have any Pete Turner prints, where did you get them from and when, how much did you pay? Let me know in the comments, or send a message via contact. If you have one you no longer need and want to donate it, I’d love to hear from you 😉