IHow do you find the value of art if signed and numbered by artist?

Answer 1

I spent 8 years in the printing business. Let me explain to you that the signed and numbered thing aint all its cracked up to be. Everybody wants a low number, right? You think if you have a print numbered 10, it was the tenth one off the printing press and the artist picked it up and signed it then and there, right?

Nope. First of all, many prints require more than one pass through the printing press. Especially if its a lithograph. So what comes out tenth in the red printing may come out 300th in the green printing.

When they are done and dry, they gather them up in a pile and send them to the artist. Usually, he may come and approve a press proof to make sure the colors are ok, then he goes home. He may actually sign them 2 weeks later.

Also, the signature could be in the print or in pencil on the print. In the print is not hand written. Pencil signed is hand signed by somebody, but maybe not even the artist. I had a teacher in college - an art history class - who taught us all how to sign perfect forgeries of Dali's signature. Why? Because he wanted us to know how many fakes there are out there. I can still do it. Sometimes when Fed Ex comes and asks me to sign for a package, I sign Dali LOL...

The long story short is - you have to take the print to a reputable art dealer and ask for an appraisal. There is no other way to know. Pax - C

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
IHow do you find the value of art if signed and numbered by artist?

Answer 3

ihow find art signed numbered artist

Answer 4

This is a broad question. Of course art signed and numbered by the artist are more valuable that posters. There are a few types of medium that would be in question.

Some artists sign their arts such as lithographs. Typically their assistants number them and the artist signs them. It is rare that an accomplished artist would personally number their work. On the other hand, some lithographs are signed in the plate of the actual artwork and then the artist will number them. It depends upon the habits of the particular artist.

A few artists of our time such as Picasso, Chagall, Dali and others are rare to find signed. They do sign these works within the plate that is silk screened, but do not sign them personally.

Picasso was notorious for signing his works in red pencil. Chagall did so in charcoal and Dali signed so many blank pieces of paper that it is hard to determined if his work was what he signed at all. Our most modern artist Robert Wyland tends to sign his works in bold pen and does number them himself; in a case by my own holding has his finger print on it.

As to value, it is a commodity based upon supply and demand. Does everyone like what Picasso painted or his pen and ink? Probably not, but it is because it was Picasso that produced it. Take Matisse for example, his works were rather simplistic, but again it is the admirer and the rarity that makes it valuable.

Value in art really is a juxtaposition perceived on the buyer. It might be an unattractive work, but because it was produced by a well known artist makes it beautiful.

To answer your question directly, if a work is signed by the artist, it is certainly more valuable than if it weren't. How to find this value? You could check the artist's "book" and what a similar work sold for previously. Any numbered edition has a distinctive value based upon this. Also, any edition that is sold out will be worth more than one that has not.

I'll give you an example. I own a numbered and signed cibachrome by John Pitre named, "Restrictions". I also own a lithograph by Wyland called, "Another Day at The Office". Both are out of print and so what they are worth are what someone will pay for them. I paid $3700 for "Restrictions" and $1,500 for Wayland's piece.

Since they are both discontinued in their format, and that they are signed by the artists, they are worth what anyone who wants to own them will pay. I had an offer of $7,500 for "Restrictions" and I did not take it. I did not offer or know what Wayland's work is worth.

How do you find the value of art signed and numbered by the artist? The answer is what someone is willing to pay for it.