It is the less obvious and the overwhelming majority of other artists which will concern us here and should concern all collectors of American painting. The pricing of painting is more information and less aesthetics than the average neophyte collector believes. A good part of this information concerns the considerable price differentials between diverse subjects portrayed in the works of the same artist where money can be saved or made. Any artist who has had some has found it in various and dissimilar directions. Whether accidentally or otherwise, this direction becomes self-fulfilling in differing degrees at the time of creation and is often amplified over the very long time in which the art is preserved.
Artists work to their strengths, which is, in turn, appreciated in the marketplace.
This appreciation may continue to persist as is the case of the Eggenhofer and Addams examples. Or interest may explode. Often it just gradually diminishes. In any and all circumstance, every painter or illustrator, living or deceased has completed some work with subject matter which is much more valuable than other efforts by the same hand. For the great majority, however, the pitfalls for the collector are all too common and dangerous as to what price one should pay for what subject matter it is all too much an insider's game.