Giclee (a french word pronoucne zhee-clay) is a fancy form of ink jet printing that can be used to make high quality reproductions of paintings, posters and photographs. Numerous famous have made giclees, including photographers Richard Avedon and David Bailey and painter Stephen Holland. A photographer can scan an original negative or transparency and make a … Continue reading What is a giclee?

For a print, plate signed means the artist put his 'signature' on or into the printing plate and the resulting prints have his printed faux signature. The signature is part of printed graphics. Some might call it a faux or pre-printed signature. This is as opposed to 'hand signed' print, where the artist autographed the … Continue reading What does a ‘plate signed’ print mean?

The trading card hobby puts a premium on proof cards. Proofs are pre-production test cards the printers use to check graphics and text before the final print run. Vintage card proofs are often blank backed, sometimes on different stock than the final cards, often with hand cut borders and little pencil written crosses on the … Continue reading When in doubt assume a trading card isn’t a proof

Bakelite and catalin are trade names for closely related antique plastics that are popularly collected today in the form of old timey radios ('catalin radios'), colorful jewelry, toys and more. The following is an introduction to the plastics and an identification guide. Bakelite and catalin are both made from phenol and formaldehyde, and are phenol … Continue reading Bakelite and catalin: Collectible early plastics

For those concerned about identification and authentication of famous original art, catalogues raisonne are invaluable information sources. Catalogues raisonne are large illustrated books used by major auction houses, museums and top dealers to help identify, date and authenticate prints. They are also a great starting point for the beginning collector, offering an illustrated survey and … Continue reading How to research a famous artist’s work before purchasing

Progression proofs are proofs, or test prints, that are used by the printers to test the colors and color alignment before final printing of art prints, posters, cereal boxes, postcards or whatever they are printing. The purpose of such proof printing is to identify and correct any errors and make sure everything looks good before … Continue reading Progression proofs

Yes, if the design did not exist before-- meaning it's not a reproduction, copy or similar. Assuming there isn't major graphic embellishment, if someone scans and computer prints out the cover of Reader's Digest, that's not original. However, if your young daughter draws a unique picture of her kitty cat on a computer drawing program … Continue reading “Can a home computer print be considered an original?”

United States nickels, dimes, quarters, half dollars and dollar coins dated 1964 and earlier are 90 percent silver. There is an ultra rare and valuable 1965 silver US dime that is in part identified by it's completely silver edge. The normal non-silver 1965 dimes have a visually noticeable brown/copper colored layer on the edge.

As with today, in the late 1800s and early 1900s plastics were used to make a plethora of products, from jewelry and toys to electrical fixtures and plumbing parts. With many of today's antique collectors, certain  early plastics are in vogue and sought after, in particular when in the form of eye-appealing items like art … Continue reading Celluloid: Identifying the collectable antique plastic

From time to time, one sees offered for sale or auction this Freeman Cigar Co. card depicting the legendary early 20th century baseball short stop Honus (Hans) Wagner. If offered as vintage (as it nearly always is), it is a fake. The card was made in the 1990s. It has a computer printed image on … Continue reading The story behind a fake tobacco card of Honus Wagner