Expert: AliMcJ - 5/13/2004

Question
I found an old print in a frame in my mom's attic. It's titled "Heading for Safety" by R H Palenske. It has a B@B beside the title that I am assuming is a copyright. With that being on there does that mean it is a copy? How do I determine if any prints I have found are originals or copies? This particular one interests me because I can't locate anywhere on the internet about it. I sell old treasures and these are the first prints I've dealt with. Thanks for any help!

Answer
I don't know what that B@B is -- perhaps a logo/brand


Original prints are usually signed in pencil by the artist.

It would be difficult to put into words how to determine this, depending on the type of print.  Determining whether a lithograph was printed on a stone (which is a fine-art process today but was used for posters before 1900, some illustrations...up until the development of offset lithography, which is a commercial printing process).  You may have a lithograph or an offset lithograph and the actual piece would have to be looked at.

Etchings, serigraphs, and woodcuts are much easier to distinguish as originals. Etchings have raised ink where the paper went down into the lines, and also the whole plate makes an indentation in the paper; serigraphs-- you can see each layer of ink; woodcuts, edges of some large white areas are indented and the ink is clearly _on_ the paper.