Woodblock Print Value 

Thanks Justin! hopefully there was some useful info in there for you.

Very good point Ariel

You could check the online galleries like Fuji Arts - they often get the print (not right now - I checked). I looked at ebay and found this one: shorturl.at/bLOPY but you have to be careful and examine any print closely to make sure it's not offset printed.

Good points, the baren is one of the most identifiable aspects of a print. Thanks for your notes!

Hi Steve, good question. The Sharaku reprint book could range from $2K - $4K. You'd need to get a proper appraisal.

@@MieGallery Yeah because I looked it up a long time ago and they said they were at least 500 a piece and I think it's probably more Maybe much more and there's About 40 individual prints and this was 4 of 300 issued so an early set he had to stop making them because of the war and it was purchased by my aunt's father in Japan 1940 who 's job was to Verify ancient artifacts traveled the world was a college professor so there are about 100 separate Prints besides all bought in Japan during the early 1900's up to ww2

@@Steve-td5xu I just did a quick look and found one print on ebay for $400+ which I never really trust. I also found a book of the prints at Biblio books for about $2K, and one that sold at Bonhams for about the same. The years of the $2K books were 1950's so that's why I threw out the $2K - $4K range. I could be far off (more research needs to be done).

@@MieGallery I agree because There's a lot of factors involved And you gotta go to more than one source to have it appraised gotta make sure That person who gives me information on it is educated enough You know how it is somebody who had the same thing you have but there's is worth a lot more than what you got

I really would get that they should go for more than 4 or $500 a piece maybe a few of them but there's so much to go higher easilyI really would get that they should go for more than 4 or $500 a piece maybe a few of them but there's so much to go higher easily

Hi Kevin, thanks for the deep question. First we have to look at the standard woodblock printing practice and not outliers like a scenario for example if the blocks for a design were first cut, and then the blocks were hidden away for 50 years and then printed. The standard practice was that a design was created, cut into blocks and printed. As the blocks wore out they would be replaced with newly carved blocks. If the design was sold to another publisher then the process would also continue but with that publisher's marks. All the prints are unique and you could argue "original" to that publisher, etc. When I/we say "original" we mean that the print was done in the first printing of the design, by the first publisher of the design, usually while the artist was still alive. Now that printing could have been 10,000 copies or more for a very popular image - but all those 10,000 would fall into the "original" category, even if the red block (for example) wore out and had to be re-carved. Another item to note is that many times the first few hundred or thousand prints of a design may have special embellishments like embossing, mica, metallic pigments, extra colors, etc., as a bonus to those who were the first to purchase them. So within the first "original" run, there are ways to evaluate a specific print and determine if it was close to the beginning or end of the run. I hope this helps answer your question.

@@MieGallery Thank you for the reply. This type of art collecting is definitely more complex than say oil paintings which are more clear-cut since the pieces are mostly unique pieces. Since I can't read Japanese, I personally can't determine publisher's marks, artist's stamps or age. I'm confined to the basic esthetic appeal of the print, whether I like it or not. As far as the investment, I'm completely in the dark as to their value and have to take the seller's word for it. The specialized websites offer only very high prices and the experience on eBay has not been pleasant, between getting outbid in the last two seconds and receiving your print improperly packaged and damaged, I'm over it. I wish there were actual stores one could visit in person and brouse with an expert on hand to consult. Because I don't know what I'm doing, I've switched to purchasing glicee prints which enables me to collect the prints I love at a reasonable price and know precisely what I'm getting.

@@kevinc519 Hi Kevin, yes, it is more difficult to "unpack" a Japanese print, especially if you don't have the language or resources readily available. Fortunately there are many resources but it takes time, investigation and maybe $ to get to answers you may need. There are auction houses and services that track the sales of Japanese prints over time and can give you a good estimation, but once again it takes time and subscription fees to access those services. There are print sellers that you can visit in the states, I have been to many of them. They are generally very friendly and knowledgable. The issue is that the prices of their prints are on the high side since they have the overhead of a physical shop. Glicee prints are definitely a safer investment. The woodblock print you purchased from us looked like it had been ripped with a lot of force, although it was reinforced with cardboard. Fortunately we have a money back guarantee so it was no problem to refund you. This was the first print in our history that arrived damaged - regrettable.