Antique print appraisal

An art print is a more sustainable drawing, a less degradable painting, and a more affordable means of owning classic art. There are several processes that go into printmaking, like lithography, etchings, intaglio, silkscreen, woodcut, etc. Artists sometimes collaborate with master printmakers and challenge the printing process, leading to unique and sustaining results. This process allows an illustration to be commercially produced but retain the artist's hand. A fine art or antique print, in this regard, is different from a photograph of a famous piece of artwork. It is not the Starry Night Sky poster in your old college dorm room but an actual artistic artifact. An actual print, like a lithograph or etching, can retain the groove of the woodcut, the splatter of ink, or the chemical debris of in a print. The Museum of Modern Art and the Royal Academy in London have large exhibitions geared towards rare printed works and galleries all over the world have large fine art collections for sale.

The rarity and value of an antique print can be based on a number of factors. That is where an appraisal service like ours comes in to give you a peace of mind. An artist could have produced few prints of a particular color or design. Editions could have been destroyed or damaged during the course of history or confiscated during World War II. History is important to an antique art print, again sometimes raising or lowering their value. Their commercial success does not make them any less valuable or relevant to their movements. The market for prints continues to grow but remain relatively affordable in auction houses and fine art galleries. Some rare prints can be forgotten and rediscovered over time, like the 300 year old Francois Langot print in Auckland.  This is not always the case with antique artwork but it’s always better to find out more about a newly owned or beloved artwork than to let it gather dust in obscurity. A print can be forged and overpriced, falsely attributed to an artist, or removed from a book, rather than a produced from the process. An appraiser can discover the truth for fine art collectors.

To find out how much your antique prints are worth, contact us.