Samuel Hyde Harris Auction Prices and Value Guide
Samuel Hyde Harris auction prices are tracked in Appraisily's artist market index, with source-directory coverage of 459 records. Use this page to review sold-lot activity, market context, and valuation factors before requesting a formal appraisal.
Samuel Hyde Harris auction prices: quick answer
Samuel Hyde Harris auction prices depend on medium, size, date, condition, provenance, edition details, attribution confidence, and recent comparable auction sales.
- Artist
- Samuel Hyde Harris
- Source records
- 459
- Market update
- 2026-02-06
Artist context
About Samuel Hyde Harris
Samuel Hyde Harris (1889–1977) was a British-born American painter and commercial artist best known for impressionist landscapes of Southern California. Born in Brentford, England, Harris emigrated to the United States in 1904 and trained at the Art Students League and Cannon Art School in Los Angeles. Over a career spanning more than five decades, he built a dual reputation as an accomplished plein-air landscape painter and a successful commercial illustrator. Harris was an active member of the California Art Club and the Society for Sanity in Art, organizations that championed representational painting during periods when modernist abstraction dominated critical attention. His canvases capture the light, coastlines, hillsides, and industrial harbors of twentieth-century California with a distinctive atmospheric warmth. Collectors encounter Harris's work primarily through Southern California gallery exhibitions and regional auction markets specializing in early California painting.
California ImpressionismSociety for Sanity in Artoil paintingcommercial illustrationCalifornia landscapesSouthern California harbors and coastlinespastoral and rural California scenes
Common works and media
Harris worked primarily in oil on canvas and board, producing plein-air landscapes, harbor and industrial scenes, coastal views, and pastoral California countryside subjects. He also created commercial illustrations, posters, and advertising art. Common subjects include Southern California harbors, rolling hills, eucalyptus groves, and atmospheric studies of the region's distinctive light. Works on paper and smaller oil sketches also appear on the market alongside his larger exhibition-scale canvases.
Market and appraisal context
Samuel Hyde Harris has a steady regional auction presence with 70 recorded lots spanning 2008–2025, of which 26 carry realized prices. The price distribution is moderately wide: $125 at the low end to $3,000 at the high end, with a median of $1,100 and an interquartile range of $400–$1,600. This places Harris firmly in the active mid-range of early California Impressionist painters. His strongest prices come from characteristic Southern California subjects—coastal and harbor scenes realized $2,750 (Ensenada, Abell Auction, Mar 2025) and $750 (Dry Dock, Abell Auction, Dec 2024)—while generic mountain landscapes and smaller works on paper tend toward the lower end of the range. The market shows modestly increasing liquidity, with 5 lots in the most recent 12-month period versus 3 in the prior 12 months. The bulk of activity runs through regional houses: Abell Auction (Los Angeles), Broward Auction Gallery (Florida), and Grant Zahajko Auctions, with occasional appearances at nationally recognized houses including Heritage Auctions and Hindman. Woodcuts and works on paper trade at a significant discount to oil paintings ($150–$275 versus $900–$2,750 for oils), indicating clear medium-driven price stratification.
Auction categories and appraisal factors
Common auction categories
- oil painting
- oil on board
- works on paper
- commercial illustration
Value drivers
- [object Object]
Appraisal caveats
- Unsigned or poorly documented works attributed to Harris should be reviewed by a specialist in early California painting
- Harris's commercial illustration output is a separate collecting category from his fine-art landscapes and carries a different market profile
- Regional auction results from Southern California and Western United States houses provide the most relevant comparable sales data
- Only 26 of 70 recorded lots carry realized prices; unsold and price-not-disclosed lots are excluded from the distribution, which may inflate the observed median.
Evidence
Sources for artist context
This source-grounded artist context passed Appraisily's promotion threshold: high confidence, strong sources.
- Library of Congress library authority
- VIAF library authority
- Wikidata library authority
- RKD — Netherlands Institute for Art History library authority
- Wikipedia wikipedia
- Getty Vocabulary Program library authority
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.
Artist value FAQ
How much is Samuel Hyde Harris 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 Samuel Hyde Harris artwork?
Yes. Appraisily can review photos, dimensions, signatures, condition, provenance, and comparable market data to prepare a current valuation.