Collecting Victor Dubreuil's art today: How much does it go for?

By Steve Roach

Published: Jul 22, 2015, 6 AM

victor_dubreuil-five-dollar-bill-painting

A small picture of a Series 1891 $5 silver certificate is typical of the artist’s realistic single-note images. A Series 1891 $5 silver certificate of the type often found in Dubreuil’s paintings and grading a well-circulated Fine — not unlike the well-traveled notes the artist often painted —sold for $446.50 at a June 16 Heritage auction.

Images courtesy of The Phillips Collection and Heritage Auctions.

This is the third post in a series on French artist Victor Dubreuil and his work involving paper money.

Collecting today

Victor Dubreuil’s works appear on the market with some frequency, although his limited output means that collectors may have to wait some time before one crosses the auction block. Most recently, a painting depicting French 1,000-franc notes overflowing from a barrel alongside a gun, perhaps painted in the early 20th century after the artist returned to France, sold for the U.S. equivalent of more than $100,000 at a March 27, 2015, auction by French auctioneer Artcurial.

More typical is a small 10-inch by 12-inch picture of a basket of money, offered at a March 25, 2015, American Paintings auction by Christie’s in New York City that sold for $62,500 against an estimate of $10,000 to $15,000. That picture depicted notes of varying denominations with the most identifiable note being a Series 1891 $2 silver certificate, Friedberg 246, with a prominent depiction of William Windom, a U.S. senator from Minnesota who became secretary of the Treasury in 1881.

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A typical picture by the artist is Barrels of Money, a canvas measuring 24 by 18 inches from circa 1898 that was offered at an Oct. 16, 2013, Doyle New York auction where it sold for $87,500 against an estimate of $70,000 to $100,000. Like the smaller picture offered at Christie’s, it also depicts in the center of the canvas a Series 1891 $2 silver certificate.

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