What a Real Signature Looks Like

There are two kinds of signature, and confusing them is where most buyers go wrong. A plate signature is part of the image itself. The artist drew or carved it into the block or stone, so every impression carries it, including cheap reproductions. It tells you nothing about the print in front of you. A hand signature is different. It is applied in pencil or ink after the print was pulled, usually below the image, and it is what the phrase signed print actually means.

Lacombe worked in the years around 1890 with the Nabis, a group that took printmaking seriously, and original period prints by these artists do exist. Any claim of a genuine hand signed Lacombe should come with documentation: a detailed condition report, provenance naming previous owners, and ideally a catalogue reference. If a seller offers a signed print for the price of a poster, the signature is almost certainly printed, not written. That suspicion is reasonable, not paranoid.

Reading the Edition Number

An edition number looks like a fraction, written in the same pencil as the signature. The bottom number is the total edition size. The top number is the place of that impression in the run. A print marked 7/30 is the seventh of thirty. Lower numbers were traditionally considered more desirable, though in practice the difference matters far less than sellers suggest. What matters is that the edition was genuinely limited and honestly closed.

Two red flags are worth knowing. First, an edition number without a matching hand signature is unusual for legitimate limited editions, since the two normally travel together. Second, very large editions, runs in the thousands, are open editions wearing a costume. They are decorative reproductions and should be priced as such. Open editions are not a scam when sold honestly, but a number like 214/5000 confers no scarcity worth paying for.

Does Authentication Affect Value

For originals and period prints, yes, enormously. A documented hand signed impression by a Nabis artist belongs to the collector market, where authentication drives price and a doubtful signature can cut value sharply. That market runs through auction houses and specialist dealers, and it is a different economy from the reproduction market entirely. Auvrique sells reproduction editions, framed and on canvas, and does not authenticate, appraise or broker originals.

For modern reproductions, the honest answer is that authentication barely matters, because there is nothing to authenticate. A well made reproduction is priced for its print quality, its framing and its size, not for a signature or a number. If a reproduction seller is charging extra for a printed signature or a certificate of limited edition, ask what the edition actually limits. Usually the answer is nothing. Pay for the image and the making, not the paperwork.