Every piece in this room is different from everything else I carry: Gantner doesn't do editions. No giclées, no artist's proofs, no numbered print run — just oil on canvas, one physical painting per title, and once it's sold there isn't a second copy to offer you.

Numbered, not titled

You'll notice these paintings don't have names the way a Butirskiy or a Packard does — the 39 pieces here are listed as "Gantner 1308," "Gantner 1030," and so on, catalog numbers instead of titles. That's how they've always come to us and how we've always listed them. Roughly half the room, 18 pieces, carry a "House" tag; the other 18 are tagged "Nature." Nothing in this collection carries a Limited Edition or Artist Proof tag, because there's nothing to edition — what you're buying is the canvas itself, not a place in a print run.

Most of what's in this room runs large — 30 x 40 and 36 x 48 are the two sizes that come up most often, with a handful smaller. That's a canvas that wants a dedicated stretch of wall, not a spot shared with other pieces, so it's worth measuring before you decide on a number.

What that does to the price

An original doesn't compete with a print run for value the way a giclée does — there's no question of which number out of 195 you're getting, because there's only one. That shows up in where these paintings sit price-wise: 25 of the 39 pieces here run $5,000 to $10,000, and the collection's median, $5,500, is what a one-of-a-kind oil costs against a reproduction of the same size. A smaller group, 7 of the 39, runs $2,500 to $5,000, so the room isn't only five-figure territory — but the bulk sits higher, a direct result of there being exactly one of each.

That single-copy structure also changes how the room refills, or doesn't. With a giclée, once one numbered copy sells there are still others in the same run behind it; with an original, a sale just means one fewer painting exists under that catalog number, permanently. Right now this room holds 39 pieces, $1,350 to $7,350. Twelve are down to two in stock, and twenty-seven have already sold through — more than two-thirds of what's been offered under the Gantner name. If a specific number catches your eye, call the gallery before it moves. With an original, there's no reorder once it's gone.

— Steve Schlag, founder, Dolphin Galleries