We’re starting to amass a fairly substantial collection of vintage prints in the house now. As well as this collection of ladies, we’ve got a few of the miniature Soulet prints, which no doubt will be making an appearance on here in the future!
About two years ago, we went to a car boot sale in Poynton where I spotted a ‘Miss Wong’ print by Tretchikoff. At the time, I’d not really seen them before but I thought it looked retro and the stall holder was glad to get rid of it for the costly sum of 50p. I even had to persuade A to purchase it at that price! Instead of keeping it, we put it on Ebay and I think we got about £50 for it. Nowadays, we would dream of finding one for 50p at a car boot sale, but unfortunately, too many people know what they are. That’s how it goes in collecting vintage stuff – one day it’s junk that only you want, the next it’s a valuable item that even the little old ladies selling it know is worth more than 50p.
The similarities between ‘Tina’ and ‘Nina’ are obvious to anybody with eyes! J.H. Lynch and Van der Syde are not as famous as Tretchikoff, in my opinion, and I can’t quite figure out who came first. According to research on the J.H. Lynch forum, Van der Syde would appear to have painted his first. I’ve personally seen far more versions of ‘Tina’ around than I have ‘Nina’ but this obviously doesn’t mean anything.
This was the first print we bought by Tretchikoff and comes with a bit of a story… We were camping on the Isle of Man, firstly near to Laxey and then later on near to Douglas. One day, we took a bus ride to Peel, a beautiful coastal town (which I highly recommend). It turned out to be the antiques capital of the Isle of Man. In a particularly dark and dingy antiques shop, we found ‘Balinese Girl’ with a price tag of £75. We knew it was a popular print by Tretchikoff, but £75 seemed steep. We managed to knock the owner down to £60 but still felt it was too much. So, we decided to go for a walk around the castle to discuss the purchase.
On arrival at Peel Castle, it turned out that it cost £8 each to get in. Well, this seemed foolish when we were debating whether to buy the picture or not. It was nearing the end of the day, so we thought we’d give it one last try to get the print for £50. If not, we’d go for the trip around the castle.
Well, we got the print. We then had to carry it round the rest of the day, including a free walk around the outside of Peel Castle. ‘Balinese Girl’ then had to live with us in the tent for another two nights. She was a little bit wider than the space allocated for bags…
The next Tretchikoff bought isn’t the style A and I usually like. However, I spotted it on a car boot sale, picked it up to look at because I like deer, noticed the signature, turned it over, saw the original sticker on the back, thought, “Brilliant!” and purchased it for a grand sum of 75p. I think A thought I was mad when I first showed it to him, until I pointed out the signature. Interestingly, I can’t find it on the official website. So perhaps, it might turn out to be the rarest one in our collection!
Our Tretchikoff purchases seem to have a symmetry to them; we finish as we started with ‘Miss Wong’. The latest print, bought over the summer, was advertised in our local paper’s free ads. A Nice old gentleman from Hyde was selling this as his wife didn’t think it fitted in with their newly done up home. £25 and a white-knuckle ride in the car (I was driving) and ‘Miss Wong’ took up residence in the spare bedroom with her peers. And doesn’t she look good?
Little Owl Ski 
WOW – very nice…lucky you! 🙂
I’m working on getting a couple of these myself from Ebay. 🙂
Hi, Tretchi was my grand dad. We are having a retrospective of original works next year in the South African National Gallery. See press release below…
If you have or no of anyone with original Tretchikoff Artworks, please do let me know. Thank you!
i have an old tretchickoff painting which has been hanging on a wall for the past 40 odd years we call it the blue lady however i have just learnt it is ‘Balinese Girl’ i welcome an art critic to suggest its Authenticity ,This painting is quite large and is located in Australia .
If you’ve got a genuine painting, you’d be wise to get in touch with the Iziko gallery in South Africa. They’re currently doing a retrospective of his work so there’ sbound to be someone there who knows about it. I’m incredibly jealous of you if it turns out to be an original!! Emma
I have what appears to be an original, possibly rare, 1952 Tretchikoff painting. The frame seems to be original or at least from the same time period as well. I have searched and can’t find another like it. Where would I be able to find out any info on this painting.
Hi Emma,
I live in South Africa and inherited a print of Mother and Child from my dad. I too have not been able to find it on the site.
Cheers,
Christine
Hi Natasha,
What can you tell me about the deer print, Mother and Child. I have a framed print which I inherited from my dad.
Thanks,
Christine
Good day Natasha
I was promted by a friend who is very interested in art and who saw my Mother & Child painting, to find out whether I have a valueble item or not.
I inherrited a Mother & Child by Tretchicoff from my grandma. My mother bought it for her for mothersday in 1966. She died September 1991 and left it to me. It is in a white “‘oldish”frame, the back was covered with brown paper but with all the transferring from one town to the other, the brown paper torn and I removed it totally. The painting seems to be on hardboard, signed by Tretchicoff.
Will you be able to respond as soon as possible please?
Hi, further to my earlier e-mail, the picture that I had was not an old painting but a print which is to my knowledge forty years old, I thuoght I had hit the jackpot but no!, is the print worth anyting ?, please let me know, thanks for replying so promptly to my e-mail, hope to hear from you soon, thanks.
Hello,
Sorry to hear you hadn’t hit the jackpot! The print is still valuable, not as much as his pictures of women, I would think, but you’d probably still get anything up to about £60 for it at the moment. However, I would hang on to it for a little while longer as I wouldn’t be surprised if they continue to go up in value. If you wouldn’t mind sending me a picture of it, I’d love to feature it on here 🙂 Emma
I don’t know if what I have is an original, Balinese Girl, but my brother gave it to me for a birthday gift.
Thanks Jennifer! I think we have been lucky actually in managing to find so many. Hopefully we’ll be able to find a couple more in the future.
i like this post..my favorite picture i think is of the woman with the tribal stretchers in her ears!
She’s my favourite too. Maybe you should start collecting these as well Meg? x
I’m so jealous of your collection of vintage prints! I have some tretchikoff paintings and would love to get some by J.H. Lynch. They are so beautiful. I have a picture of my Tretchikoff 1950’s Balinese Lady on my blog, and will post my others soon. http://madeleineellis.com/tretchikoff-1950s-balinese-lady/
I hope I’m lucky enough to come across a Nina or Tina one day as well. I would be over the moon if I did! I just love artwork from the 50’s and 60’s its just so groovy.
This taught me soo much! I now know what to look for!
Thanks
Hi. We have a Mother and Child also – from a flea market and have not been able to locate a copy. Yours is the first we’ve seen. We’re in Australia. Any idea of the value?
Cheers
Brett
Hi Brett,
Unfortunately, I’ve got no idea of its value. It doesn’t appear on the Tretchikoff website so I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad sign! I’m glad to know there’s another one out there though. I’ll email a picture of it to the administrators of the Tretchikoff site and see if anyone there knows anything about it.
Thanks,
Emma
I’m not one for bloggy sites but was just describing my mother and child deer picture at work and was intrigued to find it doesn’t seem to exist.
and yet I have one
It’s just a print with a facsimile (I think) signature on the edge of the frame – but bought from a house sale in South Africa in the 1980s
So we know there are three!
I have a Chinese Girl that had a badly damaged frame from ebay a few years back. She’s sitting with lots of other vintage bits that I collect, waiting for my partner and I to make her a replacement frame. I really would like more of the Tretchikoff women. I love the colours and styles of them!
I have a print of the Fighting Cocks, given to me by Tretchikoff himself. It has an original signature on it. It’s a Stunning Painting and it takes pride place in my Family Room. Any idea on the value?
Hi, I’m incredibly jealous but unfortunately I wouldn’t know about the value of it. My best advice would be to try and get in contact with Natasha Swift, his granddaughter. Currently, she’s working with the Iziko National Gallery in South Africa on a retrospective of his work. They might very well be able to point you in the right direction there.
I have a large framed signed print too. It was bought around 1969 in and have no idea of its worth but did see a print of the same size in a retro shop in edinburgh abt 8 years ago with an £80 price tag
For a lot of information on prints you can contact http://www.tretchikoff.com.au
They have a lot of information and they always reply.
Sir/Madam, I have had a painting ( not a print ) by tretchikoff for forty years, a neighbour offered me £5000 sterling, and my daughter offered me £8000 ten years ago, how can I find out if it’s the real thing, bearing in mind what i’ve been offered for it!, how can I talk to and who can I get in touch with, Help!!. The subject is ‘Fighting Zebras’
I have 2 Tretchikoffs that are signed and mostly blue and pink. Does anyone know where I can start to even find these? Nothing on line anywhere including the family site. I’d love to know what they are worth = anyone?
Miss Wong and Balinese Woman
I think I like Balinese girl best! 🙂 Love them all though x
I have a print of Balinese Girl that my folks bought in 1961, I have now inherited it.
hi. i have miss wong- looking to sell it. i dont think its an original but it is signed by trechikoff himself 1972.
Hi Emma,
You might be interested to know that my book Incredible Tretchikoff, the first complete biography of the artist, is now available in Britain.
My publisher, an new independent company called Art /Books, did a splendid job. It’s a very beautiful edition.
You can see a preview at Amazon.co.uk: http://amzn.to/ZOg5Id
I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading Incredible Tretchikoff. Please, help me to spread the word.
With best wishes,
Boris Gorelik
i have both Tina and Nina along with a lady dancing in a red dress like the one on Mrs Browns boys, I had no idea when i obtained these who they were. it intersesting. Is there any way of finding out more about these pictures.
Hi!
I picked up a tretchikoff painting at a thrift shop and don’t know much about it. I’m wondering if someone could tell me if it’s worth anything? I bought it because I loved it, but decided to do some research on the artist and realized what a gem it really is! It’s not on canvas so it must be a print, but the signature says 55 underneath it. It’s the magnolia painting. Do you have any information on it, or know who I could reach out to?
Thank you so much!
Ashley
Hi.. I have a tretchikoff book/ catalogue of 12 African prints.. Spiral bound.. Marble effect on front.. All pages are in good condition.. All the prints are signed on cardboard underneath by tretchikoff. It was in a joblot of books I bought for a few pence . Was wondering if anyone knows how much a signed print book goes for..
Thanks in advance 😀
Print of boy with guitar by Gingy/ Gingyo/ Ginsy/ Ginsyo. I have 2 prints by the same artist. (When I was a child a had 4).