Authenticating Fine Art Prints Using Blindstamps

The Internet is swimming in forged fine art prints.  Warhol, Calder…and now lesser-known contemporary artists are being ripped off, which means collectors are getting ripped off.

When rooting out forgeries, one solid piece of evidence that a print is authentic is a publisher’s blind stamp.  A blind stamp is a small embossed raised seal used by some print publishers to identify their work. Blind stamps are difficult to fake and often not worth a forger’s efforts, and forgers who often work off of legitimate prints miss this tiny detail.

Not every fine print publisher uses a blind stamp. But if they do, catalog entries for the print will often identify its presence.  The first step then is to determine if a print was produced with a blind stamp.  

A light held so it rakes across the surface, best if the room is dark, make these small embossed seals easy to see.   Examine the back of the print the same way, since the indentations can often be more evident, especially in older prints that have been stored flat with other prints, which can lose some of the minuscule height of these seals.

Warhol’s “Birmingham Race Riot”, his third recorded print, an edition of 500, was unsigned.  The print was published by Ives-Sillman.  In the lower right corner, there is a complicated raised seal and a work of cleaver design, in and of itself.  The presence of the seal will authenticate the work.   

Ives-Sillman blind stamp on Warhol's, "Birmingham Race Riot"

Elizabeth Murray’s “Up Dog”, 1987-88, a rare and sought after contemporary work, can be identified on the front and authenticated with the small raised seal of ULAE, Universal Limited Art Editions.

ULAE embossed blind stamp on Elizabeth Murray’s "Up Dog”, 1987-88

The general rule of thumb, with few exceptions, is to determine if a publisher used a blind stamp and then to find it on a print, matching up blind stamps to known examples is good practice for a collector.

Forged blind stamps are uncommon and, though not impossible, a blind stamp is very difficult to fake, even more difficult than forging a print.