Bizzarre question... need some help pricing an art object.

I'm preparing for an encounter my players will have with a merchant that deals in curious, oddities and art objects. I am working on a catalog-like handout filled with images and descriptions the players can take with them and think about what they want to buy (basicly I didn't want to DM an entire game of me describing items, lol). Anyway, I'm not sure what to price this fresco at. I'm aware that art prices are very subjective, but any assistance would be appreciated. Well, here it is, complete with illustration:

Hanali in Autumn:
This ancient and glorious Illefarni fresco depicts Hanali Celanil, the elven goddess of love and art, welcoming autumn. Other scholars have thought that perhaps Hanali weeps for the fall of Illerfarni itself and that the artisans foresaw the downfall of their own nation. Either way this fresco has lost none of it’s awe-inspiring beauty. Through fate or luck, this was recovered from newly discovered Illerfarn ruins in the Ardeep forest. How the colors have not faded from this seven millennia old masterpiece is a mystery since the fresco radiates no magic. Hanali in Autumn measures 11”x9”. ??? gp.

No clue what to suggest for price - something high, I'd wager, but beyond that...

Mainly I had to ask - did you do that yourself? 'Cause, WOW, if so. Very nice.

Artworks don't really have any inherent value to them: They're worth however much a PC can manage to peddle it for, which is, in and of itself, an adventure. You can make up completely arbitrary figures, and they're valid even if they're absurd. People have made millions off artwork which, I, personally, think is tacky and tasteless. From a DMing note, artworks are a very good way to artificially inflate the value of a treasure haul by making it worth that much to the OWNER, because that's how much he paid for it, without actually giving the players that much loot. Remember, winning an auction simply means you were the only one willing to pay that much for it. Makes you feel like less of a winner, doesn't it?

Actually, you could put no price in the cataloge, and in place of price put "contact owner" or whatever. The catalogue may insist on negotiating the price considering the value and rarity of the piece. They may even be holding an auction and have a date for the auction in the catalogue.

If you look at the treasure charts in the DMG the value for art objects maxes out at 2d6 x 1000 gp.

This object would be worth way more that that... not only is it a gorgeous piece of art, it also has antique value and the mystery of how the colours remain fresh... if you need to assign a value I'd go for 2d10 or even 2d20 x 1000 gp !

btw like Terraism sez - Very nice piece of work if you did ityourself.....

Norfleet said:

Artworks don't really have any inherent value to them: They're worth however much a PC can manage to peddle it for

Click to expand...

of course, the same could be said of a mercedes benz, a house or a bag of diamonds. diamonds especially

IF i were you i would list it "P.O.D." which means purchase on demand in the art sales world. this usually means the seller is reluctant to list a price openly. then, if they are interested have the broker arrange a meeting with the owner.

the owner will explain how the price is (x= ridiculously cheap) because his family believes it is cursed. he/she can then describe a series of ridiculous and scary things that have happened to his family since its aquisition. making many plot hooks available.

Well guys, thanks for the advice . Sounds like it could go cheaply for 500–2,000 gp for some story reason, or it could go anywhere between 5,000-25,000 gp. Sounds good?

Anyway, I'm very glad that everyone liked this item (I'll be glad to post some of the other ones I have if anyone's interested). As far as the image... the drawing itself is an existing piece of artwork (included below), everything else I created in Photoshop .