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Numbering Your Editions

© Amy E. Badurina

When you buy fine art lithographs (for instance), many times you'll notice that at the bottom, usually in pencil, there will be an edition number. It looks something like 5/150, which means that this print is the fifth printed of 150 total in print. (At least that's what it means in North America -- in some other parts of the world, the numbers are reversed. To use the above example, other places might have 150/5 instead of 5/150.)

There was a debate a while back about whether or not you should be numbering your artistamp editions, especially if you're producing sheets over singles. Although most of us wouldn't have need for such things, it's good to remember that we ARE, in fact, artists, and we ARE creating a valuable commodity -- Art. With a capital "A".

It is largely a matter of personal preference as to whether or not you decide to number your editions. For my own work, I don't number, simply because it's hard enough for me to find the time to make the things, much less have the time to go through them all and hand-number them.

However, there are two good reasons that I can think of to number. If you meet either of these conditions, it may be preferable to number your sheets:

1. If you're selling them. Collectors, as you might know, are pretty finnicky and pretentious about the art they're picking up. It's a badge of honor for some collectors to have a "low numbered" piece, and those low numbers actually sell for more money. Also, if you're selling them, it will help you to track how much money you're making, and/or help you figure out how to price them. For instance, if you simply must make $500 to break even on an edition (and if you need that much, what are you printing on? Gold?! Yikes!), you can know that you will either need to print 10 copies of it and price them at $50 each, or 100 copies of it priced at $5 each. It makes for easier recordkeeping.

2. If you are a compulsive record-keeper. If you're like me, and you give away your editions to other artists via the mail, numbering your sheets makes it much, much, MUCH easier to know who got what, and how many you have left. I don't number my singles, since many times, those are just tossed in an envelope with a sheet or stuck ceremoniously to the envelope, but I have been known to number sheets that I want to make sure get out there. The editions that I don't number (which, I must admit, is far more numerous, no pun intended), there is always a risk that I'll forget that I already sent them to a particular person, and will send a duplicate later on down the road.

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