Sales spike in Kinkade paintings reported

• Tweet

SAN FRANCISCO, April 10 (UPI) -- A co-owner of the Original Thomas Kinkade Gallery in Kinkade's hometown of Placerville, Calif., says sales have spiked since the artist's death last week.

Kinkade died last Friday at the age of 54. A cause of death has not been announced.

Nathan Ross, a part-owner of the gallery, told the San Francisco Chronicle he usually sells two or three canvas reproductions of Kinkade's works a weekend.

Asked how many he has sold since Kinkade's death, he replied, "I don't think I am exaggerating if I said 200."

Ross told the Chronicle he also sold two Kinkade originals he had on consignment -- one for $24,000 and another for $150,000.

"In the last three days I probably sold more [Kinkades] than I have in the previous year," the newspaper quoted Roger Plath, owner of Sherwood Fine Art in Owatonna, Minn., as saying.

Kim Perata, owner of Thomas Kinkade of Napa Valley, also reported a surge in sales.

She said she has sold more than 40 paintings since Saturday, compared with about 25 in an average month.