FREE
EVALUATION
Receiving a FREE appraisal is simple. Take a picture of your artwork with your phone and email it to us.
SELL YOUR ARTWORK
FREE
SELL YOUR
ARTWORK OUTRIGHT
We make cash offers to purchase your artwork for immediate payment.
CONSIGN TO
OUR AUCTION
You can consign to our international auctions if you prefer letting the market set the price.
WHY FLOATING WORLD?
Selling your artwork? Look no further, Floating World Gallery is the world’s leading venue for the sale of Japanese prints and paintings!
Flexibility
Consignments to other galleries often sit around endlessly getting stale or damaged. We will purchase your artwork outright and pay immediately. If you prefer letting the market set your price you can consign to our bi-annual auctions that attract international interest from the world’s top collectors and institutions, often setting world record prices.
Expertise
Our experts have over 60 years of combined experience and have dedicated their professional lives to Japanese prints and paintings. Whether you are an accidental owner, collector, curator, museum, auctioneer or appraiser – we are the experts’ other experts trust. We can identify your artwork, value it and when appropriate provide access to the world’s best conservators.
Simplicity
Other auction houses lack our nuanced expertise and can stick you with costly fees for obscure services, even if your artwork fails to sell. We charge a simple commission on the hammer price and nothing else.
Access
We provide you with access to thousands of collectors and art enthusiasts on our mailing list actively searching for the artwork you’re selling. We post our catalogues on multiple auction platforms, including Invaluable, LiveAuctioneers, and The Saleroom, exposing your prints and paintings to millions more collectors. We offer private viewings in our Chicago gallery and also travel to Japan and Europe to give top connoisseurs and collectors a chance to view in person.
We understand there are other sale venues for your artwork. None compare. Whether you’re interested in selling outright or consigning to our auction, Floating World Gallery will offer you a custom strategy to achieve the best possible price for your works of art.
MEET OUR EXPERT
BILL STEIN
Bill regularly consults with collectors, institutions, appraisers and auction houses around the world, helping to identify and value their Japanese prints and paintings. He is a member of numerous dealers’ associations and has logged over 6 million miles promoting the collecting field. Bill has addressed meetings of collectors and appraisers and contributed to “Behind Paper Walls”, a catalogue dedicated to the early works and portraits of Jun’ichiro Sekino. He and his wife founded Floating World Gallery and continue to collect as well as sell the artwork.
TESTIMONIAL
“Floating World Gallery and in particular Bill Stein provided an excellent experience for me in a world I was totally unfamiliar. The death of an amazing member of my family left me with some immediate expenses, but also some incredible art which needed to be liquidated. Through a referral I connected with Bill and from that point on the transaction and the education I gained was rewarding, enriching and seamless. The outcome benefitted us both and the friendship forged will endure.”
Ana R. Smythe
Colonel USMC(Ret)
“I have a very productive relationship with the staff at Floating World Gallery, and have developed a habit of consulting them first when the museum where I work plans to deaccession duplicate prints or those that do not help with exhibition, scholarship, artist research, or teaching. I had tried to use public auction houses in the past, but one of those actually charged the museum when their shipping, conservation and photography expenses were greater than the sales price of the print.”
Hollis Goodall
Curator, Japanese Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
“During our relationship over more than ten years, Bill Stein has always been reliable, knowledgeable,honest and enjoyable to work with—not to mention profitable. It is a pleasure to have an expert for a friend.”
Jerrold and Leona Schecter
Time Magazine bureau chief in Tokyo (1964-1968) and Moscow (1968-1970); White House correspondent (1971-1973) and diplomatic editor (1973-1977). Mr. Schecter served on President Jimmy Carter’s White House staff as associate White House press secretary and Spokesman for the National Security Council (1977-1980).
“Integrity. Knowledge. Experience. Reputable. Reliable. Approachable. Access to global markets. Established relationships with museums and advance collectors.
Any one of these descriptors defines Floating World Gallery! Together, they demonstrate why Floating World Gallery has become a major source for studying and collecting Japanese prints.”
Daphne Lange Rosenweig
Author, professor, museum exhibition organizer, and appraiser, is a specialist in the field of Asian Art.
RECORD PRICES
Sell outright for cash or consigned to the world’s best auction dedicated to Japanese art help twice a year. Our auction holds world-records for dozens of artists with consistent history of strong selling prices
Suzuki Harunobu
Girl and Cistern, 18th century
woodblock
Sold For $18,000
Ando Hiroshige
Plum Estate, Kameido
100 Famous Views of Edo, 1857
woodblock
Sold For $27,600
Kawase Hasui
Views of the Mitsubishi Fukagawa Detached Villa, 1920
woodblock
Sold for $36,000
Paul Jacoulet
Le Pacifique Mysterieux. Mers Du Sud, 1951
woodblock
Sold for 10,800
DO YOU HAVE ARTWORK YOU WANT US TO EVALUATE?