Shepard Fairey

Edition sizes under this name run very large. An impression of Change of 2008 is numbered from an edition of five thousand; the one that made GBP 4,560 at Bonhams in January 2011 did so because a letter placed it in a signed group of two hundred given to the Obama campaign team, not because of the image. Fuente

A hand painted multiple is not a print. The letters HPM in the inscription mean the screened base has been worked over by hand, each sheet differently, and those sheets sit far above the paper editions. Lotus Ornament, an AP HPM of 2019, made HKD 68,750 at Phillips in Hong Kong. Fuente

Works on wood, aluminium and canvas are usually issued in editions of two or three rather than being unique, and the number is often repeated on the reverse with the signature and date. Photograph the back before assuming a panel is one of a kind. Fuente

The images are among the most reproduced of the last thirty years and circulate as posters, stickers, shirts and unsigned reprints. A sheet without a pencil signature and number is merchandise, not an edition impression. Fuente

The Hope image was the subject of a long copyright action brought by the Associated Press over the source photograph. Works derived from that image can carry a history a buyer will ask about. Fuente

Sheets are released rolled and are commonly framed later. Pin holes, corner creases and scuffing to the flat unvarnished screened areas are the recurring condition faults and are read hard in this material. Fuente