Emil Cardinaux Auction Prices and Value Guide

Emil Cardinaux auction prices are tracked in Appraisily's artist market index, with source-directory coverage of 602 records. Use this page to review sold-lot activity, market context, and valuation factors before requesting a formal appraisal.

Emil Cardinaux auction prices: quick answer

Emil Cardinaux auction prices depend on medium, size, date, condition, provenance, edition details, attribution confidence, and recent comparable auction sales.

Artist
Emil Cardinaux
Source records
602
Market update
2026-02-06

Artist context

About Emil Cardinaux

Emil Cardinaux (1877–1936) was a Swiss painter, poster artist, graphic artist, and illustrator recognized as one of the leading figures of early twentieth-century Swiss graphic design. Active during a period when the Swiss poster tradition was gaining international prominence, Cardinaux contributed to the field through bold, visually striking compositions that blended painterly technique with commercial design. His work is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and he is recorded in major authority files including the Library of Congress, VIAF, the Getty Union List of Artist Names, and the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD). Cardinaux's legacy is closely tied to the golden age of the Swiss travel and tourism poster, a genre that remains highly sought after by collectors.

poster designpaintinggraphic artsillustration

Common works and media

Cardinaux is best known for lithographic posters, particularly travel and tourism posters produced in Switzerland during the early twentieth century. His output also includes paintings, graphic design works, and illustrations. Collectors may encounter original posters, reproduced poster prints, and occasional works on paper. Mediums associated with his auction appearances include color lithography on paper, oil painting, and mixed-media graphic works.

Market and appraisal context

Emil Cardinaux has a well-documented and active secondary market anchored by 256 recorded auction lots spanning from December 2003 through March 2026, with 163 carrying documented sale prices. His market is dominated by vintage Swiss posters—especially travel and tourism designs such as the Palace Hotel / St. Moritz, Winter in St. Moritz, and Chemin de Fer de la Jungfrau series—which appear repeatedly at major houses including Christie's, Sotheby's, Swann Auction Galleries, and Poster Auctions International. Prices range from $400 for later or commercial posters (e.g., a posthumous 1949 "Peaceful Switzerland" lithograph at Eldred's) to $25,000 at the top end, with a median of $4,130 and an interquartile spread of $1,800–$10,000. The highest recent result is $16,510 for Winter in St. Moritz (1918) at Swann in February 2026, while the iconic Palace Hotel / St. Moritz (1920) achieved $12,000 at Poster Auctions International in November 2024 and $6,604 at Swann in February 2026. Liquidity is moderate and internationally distributed: 13 lots appeared in the trailing 12 months across US, UK, Swiss, and Italian houses, down from 19 the prior year, suggesting a stable but not overheated market. The multi-currency presence (USD, GBP, CHF, EUR) confirms genuinely cross-border demand.

Auction categories and appraisal factors

Common auction categories

  • vintage posters
  • travel and tourism posters
  • Swiss posters
  • advertising posters
  • works on paper

Value drivers

  1. [object Object]

Appraisal caveats

  • No specific auction records or price references were available in the collected source pack; market context is inferred from medium and period.
  • Price data is derived from the Appraisily auction record index and Invaluable lot listings; not every lot has a documented realized price (93 of 256 lots lack a price), so the true median may differ slightly.
  • Results span multiple currencies (USD, GBP, CHF, EUR); direct price comparison requires currency normalization at the auction-date exchange rate.
  • The lot titled "Peaceful Switzerland, 1949" postdates Cardinaux's death in 1936 and is likely a posthumous reproduction or reissue; it sold for $400 and should not be treated as a comparable for original period lithographs.

Evidence

Sources for artist context

This source-grounded artist context passed Appraisily's promotion threshold: high confidence, strong sources.

Source-grounded artist Markdown

Data basis

This page is built from Appraisily's public auction market index. Private transactions, incomplete sale feeds, and attribution changes may not be fully represented.

LLM-readable Markdown summary for Emil Cardinaux

LLM summary index · LLM full index

Artist value FAQ

How much is Emil Cardinaux worth?

Comparable public auction sales are the best starting point, but final value depends on the specific artwork, condition, size, medium, provenance, and attribution confidence.

Can Appraisily value my Emil Cardinaux artwork?

Yes. Appraisily can review photos, dimensions, signatures, condition, provenance, and comparable market data to prepare a current valuation.