William T. Wiley Auction Prices and Value Guide

William T. Wiley auction prices are tracked in Appraisily's artist market index, with source-directory coverage of 460 records. Use this page to review sold-lot activity, market context, and valuation factors before requesting a formal appraisal.

William T. Wiley auction prices: quick answer

William T. Wiley auction prices depend on medium, size, date, condition, provenance, edition details, attribution confidence, and recent comparable auction sales.

Artist
William T. Wiley
Source records
460
Market update
2026-02-16

Artist context

About William T. Wiley

William Thomas Wiley (1937–2021) was an American artist whose practice encompassed painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, film, and performance. Born in Bedford, Indiana, Wiley became a central figure in the Northern California art scene, settling in the San Francisco Bay Area. He taught at the University of California, Davis from 1962 to 1973, where his students included Bruce Nauman. Wiley's work is often associated with the Funk art movement that emerged from the Bay Area in the 1960s, characterized by irreverent humor, personal symbolism, and a refusal to conform to the prevailing Minimalism of the era. His pieces are held in major institutional collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Over a career spanning more than five decades, Wiley maintained a distinctive visual language rooted in wordplay, self-referential imagery, and meticulous craft across diverse materials.

Funk artPaintingDrawingSculptureEtching / Printmaking

Common works and media

Wiley's auction and appraisal footprint includes oil and acrylic paintings on canvas and panel, watercolors and ink drawings on paper, etchings and lithographic prints (often in limited editions), mixed-media assemblages and sculptural constructions, and experimental films. His imagery frequently incorporates text, puns, and self-portraiture. Collectors encountering Wiley works at auction most commonly find prints, works on paper, and smaller-scale paintings.

Market and appraisal context

William T. Wiley maintains an active and well-documented secondary market with 239 auction lots recorded since 2005, of which 177 carried realized prices. His market shows broad liquidity: lots appear regularly at major houses including Bonhams, Christie's, Hindman, and Freeman's | Hindman, as well as specialist regional firms such as Los Angeles Modern Auctions, Rago Arts and Auction Center, Swann Auction Galleries, STAIR, and Heritage Auctions. Price dispersion is wide—realized prices range from $40 for individual prints to $100,000 at the top end. The interquartile spread ($500–$3,000, median $1,100) indicates that mid-tier works on paper and prints dominate transaction volume, while significant paintings and mixed-media constructions command five-figure results. The strongest recent result was $25,000 for "Crew Dark and the Captain's Crackers" (1985) at Bonhams in September 2025. Auction frequency has been stable, with 15 lots in the most recent 12-month window versus 19 in the prior period, suggesting consistent but slightly reduced throughput. Collectors should note that medium, period, and scale heavily influence value: prints and small works on paper cluster below $1,000, while unique paintings and sculptural works from the 1960s–1970s UC Davis period tend to outperform.

Auction categories and appraisal factors

Common auction categories

  • Painting
  • Drawing
  • Sculpture
  • Etching / Printmaking

Value drivers

  1. [object Object]

Appraisal caveats

  • Wiley's output spans a wide range of media and formats; auction results should be compared within the same medium and period.
  • No single catalogue raisonné was identified in the collected sources; attribution verification may require specialist consultation.
  • The price distribution is heavily skewed: prints and small drawings dominate transaction volume at the lower end, while a small number of significant paintings drive the upper range. Median and quartile figures reflect the print-heavy volume and may understate painting values.
  • No comprehensive catalogue raisonné was identified in the source pack; attribution verification may require specialist consultation, particularly for unsigned works on paper.

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 William T. Wiley

LLM summary index · LLM full index

Artist value FAQ

How much is William T. Wiley 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 William T. Wiley artwork?

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