Original or Reproduction?

Telling an original print or map from a reproduction can sometimes be very easy, and other times quite difficult. [Click here for discussion of the differences between originals and reproductions] Below are some tests you can make which might tell you what you have.

Printing process
The most definitive method of determining whether a print is an original or a reproduction is by examination of its production process. All reproductions are made by a different process than originals; reproductions are photomechanically produced and originals are not. This difference in process can usually be spotted by an expert and in some cases is quite obvious.

• Most reproductions are made from a dot-matrix or half tone process, which produces a lentiginous image composed of a symmetrical pattern of small dots.. If you look through a fairly powerful magnifier (e.g. 10X) and you see little dots (either black & white or color), then you have a reproduction.
  
  
• If the print is supposed to be an intaglio print (engraving, etching, mezzotint, aquatint, etc.), then if there are big enough margins, a platemark should appear. Note that fake platemarks are not uncommon, but these usually differ in character from real platemarks. Also, the ink in an itaglio print will often feel raised from the surface, so if the print surface feels absolutely smooth, this is a clue that it is not an intaglio print.
  
  
• If the print is supposed to be a lithograph or woodcut or wood engraving, then there should be no platemark. If a platemark appears, you likely have a reproduction.
  
  
• Most intaglio prints, woodcut and wood engravings, when colored, are colored by hand with watercolors. If the color is printed and the print is supposed to be one of these types, then this is another clue you have a reproduction.
  

Paper
As a general rule, almost all prints and maps printed before 1800 are on laid paper and almost all prints and maps printed after 1800 are on wove paper.

• Laid paper is made by hand in a mold, where the wires used to support the paper pulp emboss their pattern into the paper. This pattern of closely spaced, crossing lines can be seen when the paper is held up to light. The first example of the use of wove paper in western printing was in 1757, so any print or map made before that should certainly be on laid paper. However, even in the second half of the eighteenth century, the use of wove paper was relatively rare, increasing in instances the closer to the end of the century. Also, some modern paper has false laid lines and reproductions often add false laid lines to make the item look more authentic. Thus the appearance of liad lines in the paper is a clue to authenticity, but not proof positive.
  
  
• Wove paper, in contrast, is made on a woven belt and lacks the laid lines. Thus the paper will lack the pattern of crossing lines when held up to the light. Though laid paper was used after 1800, the use of laid paper became less and less common as the nineteenth century progressed.
  

Other

• Look for any printed information which indicates the print is a reproduction, e.g. “reproduced from” or a copyright notice, etc.
  
  
• The best way to tell what you have is to try to find a reference book which features the map or print you are trying to research. This can be a collection listing, an exhibition catalogue, or a or catalogue raisonné. These references often list details about the prints or maps and you can compare these to your print or map. Among the details to check are title, measurements and the exact wording of any imprint information. Note that old prints do vary a bit in size, but the measurements should be within about 1/4” of the recorded size.
  
  
• Many prints and maps were issued in bound volumes and if the item is large, then it will often have to have been folded to fit into the volume. This is especially true for old maps, where the majority of original antique maps from before the nineteenth century have a "centerfold." The appearance of a centerfold is often good evidence that you have an original.
  

Note that none of these tests are certain, for there are exceptions to all of them. Also, even if your print passes these tests this doesn’t mean that it is original, though failure of any indicates it probably is a reproduction. Ultimately the issue must be decided by knowing what process the print should be and knowing what the paper should be like. This often takes an expert to determine for certain.

You can read more about how to tell an original map in a "Tips of the Trade" article on the Antiques Roadshow web site.

You can read more about the different ways prints were made in the Antique Prints Blog posts on print processes.

Can you tell me anything about this print?...

As we state on our web site, we are always happy to answer questions so as to help spread knowledge about antique prints and maps. We answer every email we get as best we can within the specified parameters (for instance, that the query is polite and that it not include an unsolicited email attachment). One of the most common questions we get is to help provide information about a print where the owner cannot find out anything at all about it.

Here is a typical question I received this morning:

I came across a framed print which was turned upside down in a closet and used for a shelf. Since then, I have been trying to find out more information, or where I could find more information about the print.

There is a sticker on the back from Goupil's Gallery, 5th Avenue and Twenty Second Street, NY. The frame is painted wood throughout the front with a scalloped cutout in the center for the picture of a young girl. The edging of the scallop is painted gold.

I have tried to research the print, frame, Goupil's, etc., and always meet with a dead end. I even brought it to a local "Antiques Road Show" here in Columbia and the art dealer could not provide me with any information. I am looking for some direction as to my next step. Can you possibly provide that for me.

In a couple of ways this question is typical of the type of queries we get all the time (though unusual in that the framed print had been used as a closet shelf!). First, the only information on the item is the name of the gallery that framed or sold the print. Secondly, the owner has tried to research the print (usually on the internet) and found absolutely nothing.

The sad thing is that in most of these cases--including this one--there is nothing we can tell the owner. First off, the name of the framer or seller (in this case Goupil of New York) does not tell you much about the print. Most framers and art galleries handled all sorts of prints and the fact they framed or sold the one in question usually adds nothing to your knowledge about the print itself.

The real problem, though, is that it is just a fact of the print world that there isn't any information that is possible to find about an awful lot of antique prints. Sure, there are many prints where the publisher, artist, engraver, date, etc. is printed on the prints themselves, but at least as many prints have little or no information on them. Some may have a title, or perhaps a place of publication, but many have nothing at all.

For these prints, it is usually impossible to learn anything more than what you can see by looking at them. If I examine a print in person, I can usually tell the process by which it is made and often a general date (from the process, style and paper). Beyond that, though, there is often nothing more to be learned. From the middle of the nineteenth century through to the early twentieth century there were tens of thousands of prints made about which there is no information one can find today.

These prints were usually inexpensive prints produced for decoration, where the artist was unrecorded (or, even if identified, there may be nothing more known about the artist ) and where the publisher didn't bother to record its name nor the date of publication. These prints were simply intended to be framed and hung on the wall and the publishers didn't think it was worthwhile to document any of this information.

As discussed in the blog about decorative prints, there is nothing wrong with these "mere" decorative prints, but the nature of these prints means that there is likely never anything--other than process and a general date--to be learned about them. It is frustrating for us when people email us or bring this sort of print into the Antiques Roadshow, but it happens all the time. Our best advice is for the owners not to worry about this lack of documentation, but rather to simply enjoy these prints for what they were intended, as decorative prints to be framed, hung and enjoyed.