proofs vs. the regular edition and of course there are artists

who charge more than double for artist's proofs. You must

be the judge!

The value of an artists work really derives from the

artist. There's a popular story of Picasso sitting in a Paris

café having an afternoon refreshment, when a lady fan and

collector of his work comes up to him.  After sincere

proclamation for his paintings she nicely asks, if he would

autograph her napkin. Picasso signed the napkin but was

not turning it over. As the story goes he wasn't doing much

of anything until the lady says, "well may I have it?" To

which he coolly replied, "that will be one million dollars,

p l e a s e . "  Of course the lady was dumb struck and she

looked at him as if he were crazy. After a moment to gather

herself she said "but it's only a napkin." Picasso then went

on to give her the shortest and most complete education on

art in history when he said to her, "It's never the

artwork, it is the signature."

Of course not all painters grow into a Picasso and

sadly there are artists who have so boosted the value of

their artist's proofs, they can't sell anything else. When an

edition is released all the artist's proofs are sold out almost

overnight and then the rest of the edition sits there slowly

decaying over time. Many collectors are ill advised and

well trained by their gallery or art dealer's marketing

machine to purchase only adjunct proofs and to never touch

the rest of the edition.

This over-marketing of adjunct editions becomes even

sadder when many artists who are quite good fall into its

trap forcing collectors who enjoy their work to avoid buying

regular editions, because these are collectors who actually

want their artwork to appreciate in value and not to just

enjoy the work.