The Best Print Auction Records

Gordon's Art Reference first became known for their superior print price coverage 23 years ago and they're still the best. Their publications consistently beat the competition because they contain more entries, more details per entry, translated titles (for purposes of locating images in catalogues raisonne), catalogue raisonne numbers, and sales data on buy-ins. Added extras include cross indexed listings of prints by catalogue raisonne numbers and bibliographies of catalogues raisonne, monographs, and general print reference books.

Gordon's Print Price Annual 2004-1985 CD-ROM set is the best print price database product available. It contains 20 years of international print auction records totaling over 725,000 entries by nearly 30,000 artists. Sales records include those for Old Master, Modern, and Contemporary fine prints; decorative, historical, botanical, topographical, and Japanese prints; vintage, fine art, and film posters; illustrated books, livres d'artiste (artist books), books and periodicals with original graphics; Picasso ceramics; and more. Also included on the CD-ROM are older print prices dating from the turn-of-the-century to 1985; a trilingual print lexicon in English, French, and German; and a worldwide directory of auction houses, print dealers, and photography dealers.

This year, an online database of 25,000 images of prints is available to users of the CD-ROM. Here's how it works: You buy the CD-ROM for $595 ($295 per annual update) and for an extra $100, you have access to the image database. To use the database, you run the CD-ROM on a computer with an open internet connection. When an image is available in conjunction with a particular entry, a thumbnail image appears on your computer screen, and you click it to see the enlargement.

Please note that Macintosh users need PC emulating software in order to run Gordon's CD-ROM products.

Gordon's Print Price Annual International 2004-1985, CD-ROM, Gordon's Art Reference, Inc., Phoenix, 2004, $595 for the initial subscription, $295 for subsequent annual updates. 25,000 image database access, $100.

Review courtesy of www.artbusiness.com.