The Bourne engravings of Doré paintings are very impressive. Unfortunately, many of the ones I've seen for sale in the last few years were not worth the staggering amounts of money sellers had in mind. On the other hand, none of the Doré prints are common and some have not appeared for sale in two decades or more.

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I have no private knowledge about the values of Doré engravings. Minimum bid prices posted in auction catalogs and on eBay represent enthusiastic wishes of sellers only. I have dealt with the valuing of collectibles for a half century. If I could give only one piece of advice, it is to ignore what someone thinks something should be worth. No matter the collectible, no matter the rarity, no matter the opinions of experts, you should rely on information from actual sales only.

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I receive frequent inquiries about pricing and insuring the large Doré engravings. The engravings were prepared for the Fairless-Beeforth Doré Gallery in London between 1871 and about 1884. Some, but not all, were signed in pencil by both Doré and Bourne.

 

For more discussion on the engravings and the other works by Doré, see:

Gustave Doré: Adrift of dreams of splendor

by Dan Malan, Malan Classical Enterprises, 1995

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I have never found any records regarding how many prints of each plate were prepared, printed, or sold. The number of examples that survive is limited, but again, I have never encountered an educated census.

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Doré-Bourne prints appear for sale infrequently, certainly fewer than three per year. Nonetheless, there should be some pricing history. If you are interested in values for insurance purposes, you will need to discover actual sales prices. Depending on the insurer, you may need to secure a professional appraisal.

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Several Bourne/Doré engravings have appeared for sale on eBay in the last decade. Those sales have been difficult to typify. Sellers generally offered the prints at such outrageously high starting prices that they never received bids. A few prints had serious condition problems. Having said that, be aware that condition problems are normal for the series for the simple reason that it is very difficult to preserve large pieces of paper for over 130 years without incurring damage. 

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I have no way of estimating prices for Bourne/Doré prints. For that reason, every time someone asks for "more information," I refer them to this page. 

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I share your concern over value and insurance. My suggestions are to:

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1) Talk to you home insurer first. See if they are interested in insuring your print. They may prefer to sub the job out to a specialist. Also check with collector organizations. Some have sprical insurance companies they work with.

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2) Take decent photographs of your print. Do not expect a poorly lit, poorly focused photo from your cell phone will to be adequate. Examine your print very carefully. Measure its exact size and describe EVERY flaw. If your print was framed before you acquired it, make sure you know what problems are hiding under the glass and especially under the mat. Old mats were often acidic and may have yellowed and aged the underlying print. Are Doré's and Bourne's autographs visible in the bottom corners? If so, were they written in pencil? (If flaws are not adequately described before loss or damage, expect insurers to make deductions before payment.)

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3) Find a REPUTABLE and experienced art consultant who has subscriptions to major art auction records. This is crucial.

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I have encountered references to the large Doré prints in several art auctions. Unfortunately, sales results are locked behind subscriptions and those subscriptions are expensive. Only the most profitable of professional art consultants can afford them. Those are the consultants you need to contact. You will find consultants of such stature in major cities and in special places like Aspen, Colorado, Santa Fe, New Mexico and elsewhere in Europe. Because Doré's engravings originated in England, they are greatly more common in Europe than in the United States.

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3) Ask your art consultant to research prices paid for all the large Doré engravings. Ask for prices realized, commissions paid, and the dates of the sales.

 

Expect to pay for that research. Once you have found a consultant, you MUST stress to your consultant that:

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• You need prices for the engravings, NOT Doré's paintings. Prices for the engravings are fractions of the amounts paid for the paintings. 

• You need to learn "prices realized"; price estimates and minimum starting bids are interesting but useless.

• You need prices for insurance reasons. 

 

Sales are so infrequent that you may not be able to find reliable prices for your specific engraving. Consequently, make sure your consultant researches prices for all of the Doré engravings. There were 25 engravings prepared and sold by Fairless and Beeforth. These nine engravings were engraved by Bourne:

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• Christ Leaving the Praetorium 

• Christian Martyrs in the Coliseum 

• Moses Before Pharaoh 

• Night of the Crucifixion (Les Tenebres) by Bourne and William Ridgeway

• Soldiers of the Cross 

• Triumph of Christianity over Paganism 

• Les Tenebres

• La Vigne

• Andromeda

 

Christ Leaving the Praetorium and Triumph of Christianity over Paganism are more common than the other Bourne/Doré prints. References to Moses Before Pharaoh and Soldiers of the Cross are extremely rare.

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4) If your art consultant can compile two or three recent prices, you should be able to safely insure your print. If your item is framed, be sure to account for the frame's replacement value for insurance purposes. If you are seeking valuations for the purposes of selling, I advise NOT considering the price of the frame. Unless frames are extraordinary, frames are often considered either worthless or liabilities when selling. If you try to sell a framed print, do not be surprised if potential buyers ask you to discard frames before shipping. (Do not be offended if experienced buyers say they will accept your frame, but ask you to remove the glass before shipping.) 

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