HOW TO TELL IF YOUR PRINT IS AN ORIGINAL
Unsure if your print is Original?
You're not alone. Antique prints can be captivating works of art, but determining their authenticity can be a daunting task. With the rise in high quality reproductions and digital forgeries, it's essential to know how to spot the real deal.
Antiquarian Print Shop founder, Iris, delves into 3 key factors to consider when assessing the authenticity of an antique print. From examining artist signatures and printing techniques to identifying subtle signs of age, she'll equip you with the knowledge to distinguish between Originals and Reproductions.
|
|
At Antiquarian Print Shop, we sell both Original Prints and Custom Reproduction Prints, with clear distinction between which is which.
To understand how to tell the difference, you first have to understand the process of producing a print...
The artist first does their work as an original piece of art; a drawing made on a voyage or as a part of a study being undertaken on commission for a person of some wealth or for their own, identified need.
This artist or their commissioner then employs the services of an engraver, also called a sculpsit. These engravers were often very talented, and could make the original work of some renowned man on a voyage or on a commission look really amazing
The sculpsit does the initial work on a copper plate, so the “original” is a copper plate. These copper plates are rarely ever for sale.
To produce the image, the plate is first hand-inked.
The paper is then laid down on top and the two pass together through the printing press, under tremendous pressure. The pressure transfers the image to the paper. Since the copper plate has a thickness, it “dents” the paper around the edge of the image. This “dent” is called a plate impression. You can see it and feel it around the edge of the plate.
From process to identification...
#1: A real copperplate engraving has a plate impression.
Since the process is not photographic and there is no printing press, there are no dots in the image. If you use a magnifying glass to look at a photograph in a newspaper, you can see the entire image is made up of dots. Use a magnifying glass with an original etching and there are no dots.
#2: An authentic etching does not have any dots in the image.
Reprints of original art are given back to the artist to hand-sign each one. Antique prints are signed on the engraving before printing and can be found on the bottom under the print on either the left or right hand side. Details on the engraver are often found here also.
#3: Authentic etchings are hand-signed by the artist, usually in pencil.
In the case of Louis Icart, a raised seal called a blind stamp, was created in mid-1926, and is usually found in the lower left corner, just below the image. Most Icart images produced after this time have the blind stamp, but don’t use this information as a crutch. There are some fake etchings that have fake blind stamps. And conversely, there are many authentic Icart etchings that do not have a blind stamp. Supposedly the etchings without blind stamps were not for export from France, but personally I’ve found too many instances where this rule doesn’t seem to follow.
Original lithograph with later hand colouring by John Gould
The above information includes well-informed insights from an article that I enjoyed from Philip Chasen of Philip Chasen Antiques
Explore Antiquarian Print Shop's range of Original Prints here!
Related Tag: Bird Prints
