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While the end of the year is approaching, prints could prove the gift of choice for art-lovers. Selling for less than EUR1,000, lithographs offer excellent returns, quite apart from their aesthetic appeal. Works in this price range yielded average gains of 26% between September 1999 and September 2002.
Like any work of art, the price of a print depends on the fame of the artist, subject matter, format and state of preservation but also — and this applies only to prints — the size of the run and the quality of printing. Artists’ proofs are test samples produced before the final printing. As only a small number are made, it goes without saying that they are far rarer than prints produced in the final run and, as ever, supply and demand governs the market. But another rule also applies which is both unusual and unique to the prints market: the rarer a work, the more expensive it is, but the less profitable (see ArtMarketInsight of 9 July 2002).
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The fact is that prints costing more than EUR10,000 have lost more than 7% of their value since September 1999. That said, the market has been highly selective in recent months and we are now seeing something of a trend reversal here. Prices of the most expensive prints have picked up over the past five months. And only outstanding works are attracting the bidders. Prints selling for less than EUR1,000 — although still extremely profitable over the medium term — have fallen sharply since July, as transactions numbers have slumped and unsolds multiplied. The result has been a 28.4% slide in lots sold between the first halves of 2001 and 2002.
The market in prints selling for more than EUR10,000 remains a fairly exclusive club. Only 750 artists have had a work fetch more than this figure in ten years. Those cropping up most often in auction houses include Pablo PICASSO (1881-1973; 1,256 prints sold for more than EUR10,000 since 1992), Marc CHAGALL (1857-1985), Henri DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC (1864-1901) and Andy WARHOL (1928-1987). Prints at the other end of the market, selling for less than EUR1,000, dominated auctions between 1992 and 2002 accounting for 72% of the total sales volume, although this was just 13% of total turnover. The leaders in this category are Horst JANSSEN (1929-1995), Salvador DALI (1904-1989) and Marc CHAGALL (1887-1985).
This year, once again, the leading auction venue for cheaper prints was Germany, which dominated the under EUR1,000 market with 29% of total sales volume, ahead of France, Scandinavia and the UK. Meanwhile, the US specialises in the very top of the range and accounted for 45% of print sales of more than EUR10,000 this year, although London is rapidly shaping up as a serious competitor.
Print auctions in December will be largely centered in Europe. Between them, Bonhams, Sotheby’s and Christie’s will be offering nearly 1,000 lots for sales in London, while Piasa will be selling 196 modern works in Paris.
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