Condition is enormously important to the long enjoyment of your art. Condition issues often distract from the beauty and statement of the art and often detract from the enduring economic value of the work. They also sometimes worsen over time. Thus, it is important to understand the condition of the work you are buying.

We use the phrase “Good Condition” to describe works which are generally viewed as in good condition. A work might be described as “Good Condition” if it has some moderate issues that attract the eye under normal viewing conditions. In traditional print-grading, a work which we describe as “Good Condition” would typically be graded as 5 (“good”). We will not rate a work as being in Good Condition if we believe that a viewer would look at it and say, “hmm, that picture looks like it isn’t in great condition!”

Mild condition issues can include surface soiling, handling creases, buckling, stray ink, and adhesive residue or staining.

Moderate condition issues can include colors attenuated, light or age staining, skinning to the margins, losses to the sheet, trimmed margins, tears to the sheet, creases to the image, some specks of foxing, staining, previous restoration, and mat burns.

In no case will we describe a work as in Good Condition if it has severe issues. Severe issues include colors faded, losses to the image, tears that reach the image, obtrusive rubbing to the image, skinning on the image, or meaningful brittleness.

We do not sell work that suffers from moderate or severe condition issues that are immediately apparent and significantly detract from the overall look of the work (typically rate 4 “Fair”) or worse.