How to price a print

Prints — etching, lithograph, screenprint, woodcut — have a centuries-old market with established conventions. Edition size and method drive most of the price; signed-and-numbered status drives the rest.

Method changes the band, not just the look

Etching and lithograph carry the most market weight, followed by screenprint and woodcut. For an emerging printmaker, indicative bands at A3 size: etching € 120–€ 350, lithograph € 100–€ 300, screenprint € 80–€ 220, woodcut € 100–€ 250. Hand-pulled prints command 30–50% over digitally-output prints of the same image — buyers reward labour and process.

Edition size — the rule of thumb

Print editions traditionally run larger than photograph editions. Editions of 50–100 are normal for screenprint and lithograph. Etching editions of 30–50 are standard. Woodcut editions of 20–40 reflect the wear on the block. Smaller editions (under 25) command higher per-print prices but require a stronger CV to justify — collectors look at edition size as a signal of how seriously you take your market.

Signed, numbered, dated

A print is not a finished work until it is signed in pencil, numbered as a fraction (e.g. 12/50), and dated. Unsigned prints from the same edition price at 40–60% of the signed equivalent. Artist proofs (AP) and printer's proofs (PP) sit outside the numbered edition and price 20–30% above standard prints. The convention is to have no more than 10% of the edition size as AP/PP — 50 numbered + 5 AP is defensible; 50 numbered + 25 AP is not.

Paper matters more than buyers admit

Archival cotton-rag papers (Arches, Hahnemühle, Somerset) signal a serious print and add 15–25% to defensible pricing over standard art paper. Handmade paper adds another 20–30%. Cheap paper drops the work into the decorative band regardless of how good the image is. Always disclose paper and weight on the COA — it's a data point collectors check.