Although paintings, sculptures, and drawings are the most common media in art collections globally, limited edition art prints are also gaining favor among the top art collectors. If the question on your mind is, are limited edition prints worth buying? The quick answer is, yes. But the more profound answer is explained below by discussing the benefits of buying limited edition fine art prints.
1. The Value of Limited Edition Prints Increases Over Time
Today, you may buy limited edition art prints for sale from a little-known artist and cash in the future when the artist becomes a household name in the art industry. For instance, upcoming artists may produce limited edition serigraph artwork for sale during their early careers. If you buy one original serigraph from the limited edition, you’ll have a golden goose in your collection when the artist starts getting noticed. Having bought the artwork at a lower price, you’ll be singing multiple profits all the way to the bank.
As an artist’s influence and fame grow, their artwork attracts more attention. Certainly, more art lovers will find the artist’s limited editions worth buying, and all the copies may soon sell out. Unlike an open edition where artists can reproduce as many copies as possible, the size of a limited edition cannot be altered. Therefore, when the copies sell out, you’ll be one of the few collectors with the original fine art limited edition prints. This means you may then dictate the price of the artwork in the market. If you collect fine art as an investor, you cannot make a better investment than buying limited edition art prints for sale.
2. Fine Art Prints Are More Cost-Efficient
When you’re just starting as an art collector, you may not have big money to spend on the more expensive paintings or sculptures. Evidently, original paintings from an artist in demand fetch top dollar. Even so, limited edition art prints also attract a higher valuation, only that the price is more affordable for emerging collectors and young art buyers. Also, artwork from a limited edition may be more available than an artist’s original paintings.
Let’s take, for instance, Pablo Picasso’s artwork. While only the original 1955 painting Les femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’) is available, there are about 50 prints for his famous 1935 etching Minotauromachy (La Minotauromachie). The price of the two artworks also spells the difference, with La Minotauromachie valued at slightly over $2,000,000, while Les femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’) attracts over $200,000,000. This tells you that it’s more affordable to buy a limited edition art print than an original painting from a master painter. It also answers your question, are limited edition prints worth buying?
3. Fine Art Prints Are Original Artworks
In some quarters, art lovers wrongly assume that fine art prints in a limited edition are mere reproductions of the original work. No wonder the question exists: are limited edition prints worth buying? The truth is that limited edition prints are original artworks made by an artist and a master printer. Most painters personally supervise the printing of each piece in their limited editions. Also, all of the materials used to make limited art prints are destroyed to ensure that no more copies can be printed. This way, the pieces in the limited edition are original artworks in that the artist and a printer make them, and the edition size cannot be altered thereafter.
The above-discussed perks of buying limited edition prints are sufficient answers to the question, are limited edition prints worth buying? As an art collector, limited edition prints should be on your to-buy list alongside paintings, sculptures, and drawings. As of 2017, the global art market was valued at almost $64 billion. To be among the top art collectors who reap big from the industry, you should leverage the benefits of buying limited edition fine art prints. Fortunately, you can buy limited edition art prints from a local art gallery near you.