etchings by leslie henderson

My wife's Great Uncle was the artist Leslie Henderson and when her parents died a large lot of copper etching plates were left to her. We are trying to find if there is any value there and the best way to market them. Thanks for any and all info.
btw this is a small sample!

 

Some of these copper etching plates would have bee printed as Limited Editions so check with his Gallery to see what legally you can do if you want to print some more.

 

These etchings all belong to my wife and there is no "gallery" as he passed away in the late 80's and they went to my wife's mother which then passed to my wife.

 

Henderson was a respected artist with a decent record at auction. A quick search shows his prints sell for up to $350.00, though most sell for under $100.00 The plates would definitely have value. It is hard to say how much. I would think that those with better images would sell for as much or more than the prints made from them. I don't know that print plates are collected all that seriously so value is more that of an art curiosity. I know that there are a few there I wouldn't mind having.

 

I might add that if you sell these, you run the risk of having additional prints hit the market. This could possibly devalue the originals. I don't know how much your family values Henderson's legacy but this is something to think about. If he was more famous, it might be worth printing additional prints yourself and offering them as an estate edition. I don't know how much demand would be for these but at least you would still have control of the image.

 

This is an area I have no knowledge on.

Would the original prints have any copyright or artist print rights involved with them, even though the artist has passed?

How would one go about finding this out?

Selling the actual plates to someone who uses them to print from, as brad said will devalue the originals. I don't know how one would maintain any copyrights or if it is needed.

Just throwing this out for consideration.

 

I think they are fantastic . I dont see how running off a few of each would devalue the market that much ? Im not talking a 100 per plate more like 10 .

 

Copyright would exist for these images and probably would have passed to the heirs. Whether or not selling the plates also sells the copyright may have to be determined in court. Plates are made for printing and selling them might also infer that you are selling the right to print from them unless you specifically eliminate these rights. I am not a lawyer so I really don't know. Here is some basic information on art copyright.

http://www.arsny.com/copyright-basics/

 

Running a few, particularly as part of a separate estate edition, would have little impact. If the plates were sold and hundreds begin appearing on the market over time, would. It is an interesting question and one also limited by the capacity of these plates to produce good images. Copper plates deteriorate a bit with each image produced. It somewhat depends on the method used to create the plate. For example, drypoint plate images are usually produced in very small editions (10 or so) due to deterioration issues.

 

The whole issue of copyright and image ownership was tested by the E. M. Washington fiasco. It really turned the art world on its ear and is a fascinating read if you are not familiar with it.

A couple articles.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._M._Washington

http://myauctionfinds.com/2014/09/10/e-m-washington-an-artist-who-was-tagged-a-cheat/

The original works sold included false dates. Later ones were undated. I own a couple of these with false dates that I paid about $10.00 each for once the scam was revealed. They are killer images, interesting, and collectible for the forgeries that they are.

A local antiques and art dealer here had a couple in his shop at $350.00 each. I spoke with him about them and told him to look it up on the internet. He replied that he did not do internet and stood by the works as presented. About a year later, he still had the works but they were priced $60.00 each. There was still no mention of them being forgeries.

There are some listed on ebay right now.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odk...print.TRS0&_nkw=e+m+washington+print&_sacat=0

They do sell.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&rmvSB=true&_nkw=e m washington print&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2045573.m1684

 

Oh wow ! Ive got the 6th one down on the first link you posted Brad ! I never could Identify it , and now I know not only who it is , but what it is ! Thats too wild ! Fascinating article , explained a lot .

 

I wonder if it might be worthwhile to consult an attorney specializing in this area. Here's a start. Scroll down to find USA referrals.
https://itsartlaw.com/art-law-resources/law-firms/

 

Thanks for all the reply's and info, ownership is not in question on these and as for copyright that would depend on if it is conferred as part of the sale of the plate (would almost have to be to have value beyond artistic). The real question here is 1. what is the market 2. how best to sell and 3. value.
Thanks Verybrad for your input. There are approx. 40 plates (some prints I have seen sold) and several old photographers plates which I understand artists would use for etchings.

 

The whole issue would be easier if you had prints instead of plates. Sometimes plates are cancelled after an edition has been pulled. This can be done by scribing a line through the image, or punching a hole in the plate... the intent being to spoil the image and render the plate unprintable. Probably not what you want to do.

As others have said, if you sell the unadulterated plate, whoever buys it can pull an edition of prints from it. This is frequently done. There are many posthumous editions of Hogarth, Audubon, Hokusai, Rembrandt, etc., etc. People specialize in knowing what print came from which edition.

Perhaps you could have a stamp made reading something along the lines of "from the estate of Leslie Henderson" And have that stamped into each plate so that the plate could not be reprinted without that information being included.

To sell the plates, I would refer to a reputable auction house. They should have experience with the issues pertaining to the sale of such items and be able to advise you.

 

We would have no problem with whoever bought the plates doing what they want with them as long as we were fairly compensated in the sale. The plates are not canceled and are as the artist left them. That's the reason I'm picking brains to determine value etc. I would think about having one set of prints made just for a family thing if they were going to be reprinted.

 

Being a WPA artist I'd think would increase the desirability on these, send some photos of the better ones to Skinner or similar auction house.

Any idea who the group photo is?

 

I'm still researching so please bear with me, What is WPA? also any contact info on the auction houses you mention? I will get the plate out and try to see if there is something to ID what it is of.

 

Works Progress Administration, the Federal Art Project, part of Roosevelt's New Deal during the Great Depression (1929-1943).
http://www.theartstory.org/org-wpa.htm


Skinner.
http://www.skinnerinc.com/selling/

 

Thanks, I looked at the plate but could not see anything identifiable other than a group in front of an archway.

 

Probably no ID on it but did you look close for pencil marks on the back? If there is any they could be hard to see. Probably not of significant consequence but if it's related to the art it could be.