I have been collecting the engravings of Herbert Bourne since about 1996. I have been recording prices of his prints since 2007. The most common question I hear is:

​

"What are these prints worth?"

​

I apologize for sounding flippant, but the short answer is,

​

"Generally, not a lot."

​

The exceptions are prints from a series of twenty large format steel-plate engravings/etchings created between 1871 and about 1884 and sold at the Doré Gallery in London. These are recreations of Gustave Doré's huge and popular paintings of Biblical events that attracted droves of Londoners to the gallery in the 1870s and 1880s.

​

Nine prominent engravers participated in the project; Herbert Bourne engraved eight of the twenty plates and participated on a ninth with William Ridgeway. Some or all of the prints were signed in pencil by Doré and the engraver.

​

Although thousands of Doré prints were sold at the gallery, they now appear for sale very sparingly and then mostly in art auctions. Sale prices in those settings are generally available only to dealers and high-ticket art collectors on a subscription basis. Their sale prices remain unknown to me. Please see more discussion on the page titled Insuring Doré engravings.

​

As a rule, I avoid talking about values of collectibles. Bourne prints, no matter their size, age, beauty, size, condition, scarcity or perfection are simply collectibles. They have no "value" in and of themselves. They are worth exactly what the next buyer will pay, at a single moment in time.

 

If you want to know about the prices that collector have paid for Bourne prints, please visit Gallery of Bourne Images on this site. There you will see a high-low-average summary of every real price I have ever recorded. I show you what collectors have paid in the past and let you decide what they might pay in the future.

​

Be warned! You will find some incredibly STUPID asking prices on eBay. Do not be deceived. They are merely asking prices. STUPID prices have no basis in reality. 

​

I record all offers and sales of Bourne prints that I can find. I update the online pricing database only when I discover new sales. Obviously, Bourne prints sell in antique stores, malls and shows, but I have no method of acquiring that knowledge. The overwhelming majority of my sale price information comes from eBay. Make no mistake; there are not a lot of sales of Bourne prints on eBay, averaging only 40 sales per year over thirteen years.

​

Remember, the rule with collectibles is incredibly simple:

 

Low demand = Low price

​

This is a great situation for collectors. Not so much for sellers.

​

​

​