This week an Osamu Sugiyama auction is being run at Artelino (www.artelino.com) and is decribed as “Osamu Sugiyama – for old prices – 1035″. The auction is scheduled to end Thursday, September 27, 2012, 8:00:00 PM.

Looking at the prices for several prints at the Artelino auction and comparing them with pricing available at the publishers website website today it does appear that for some prints the reserve plus buyers premium set may exceed the retail cost of the same prints from the publisher. (Please note that this may depend on your specific currency exchange rates and the particular print your after).

As an example, the print listed on Artelino as ” Osamu Sugiyama born 1946 – 10 Views of Mt. Fuji – Moonlight over Shinobino Moor” has a reserve of $200USD plus 20% commission giving $240USD. The publishers price for this print is 17,850JPY which converting at xe.com today is $228USD. That price difference ($240 vs $228) isn’t bad for the first/only bidder but any additional bidders will in my view be paying to much. For those of you in the EU don’t forget to factor in the additional 7% VAT buying from Artelino vs any import taxes if buying from Japan.