I'm hoping that I've chosen the proper forum for this question so here goes. I am a photographer who has never offered a limited edition print. At the last show I did, I had a couple of perspective customers ask if I had any limited editions. When I said I had none, the customers excused themselves and left. This got me to thinking about the practice. I realize that I can't go back and start numbering any previous images that have sold, but might seriously consider starting to number some new images that I am planning to start offering. I can easily set up a spreadsheet to track the numbering, but , having never used LE's before, my question would be more towards the area of Certificates of Authenticity. Do those of you who do LE's offer a COA with the print at the time of the sale. If so where could I find the proper form or wording to use. Is there a sample template online somewhere? I'm fired up to start the process but want to do it correctly. Any guidance would be appreciated.
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This Lawsuit decision has made the whole limited edition for photography become wide open as to what is considered a limited edition.
judge-rules-william-eggleston-can-clone-his-own
David - this has happened to me a few times. What I have started doing is numbering and initializing the back of my large pieces a simple 5/RM that way the buying can see there are not 5000 of them out there.
I think that has been the reason I have been asked. Two people said they purchased some work and then found out there were posters all over the place which cheapened THEIR piece (they felt).
Rod,
What is RM? As in 5/RM shown above.
Thanks
Oh - just initials, you could sign it also I suppose. The main thing is that I don't want to have some random number like 1000 as a limit. I would rather just number that pleases the customer who know knows this is not number 11,500 but tells them that you care about each copy.
Thank you Rod, seems like a logical way to approach the issue. I have not done a show yet that bars open editions, so I would probably be safe. For the present I am not numbering and as Connie has noted they are buying the image because they like it and want to own it. Guess I'm feeling lucky in that respect.
One thing I forgot some show wont allow you to have open edition image.
Exactly, Oscar. That is why we started doing limited editions. We didn't want the hassle of suddenly being accepted to a show that required it, so we did it as a rule to make it simpler.
I stop doing all together the limited edition with my work. I also dropping the COA because I think is waste of paper and ink.
Thank you Allison and Connie. I'm almost embarrassed to say that I had been given some mis-information on the LE issue with photographs. I certainly will not pursue the practice and will not push any limits. This is a prime example of why I appreciate being here at AFI. There are so many fine folks here to help us along with issues that we might not be too experienced with. Thanks for helping me out.
Glad we could help you out, David. Pleased to have you here.
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