Rarity of Bourne prints
I constantly record appearances of Bourne engravings when they appear on eBay, eBid, and elsewhere. There are usually 80 to 110 Bourne engravings for sale on eBay at any point in time. Only a tiny percentage of prints offered for sale ever sell, proving that:
- the market for such collectibles is EXCEEDINGLY thin
- sellers are asking too much for their prints.
While I offer guesses about rarity, please understand that there is no possible way to know how many prints might exist. We can know only how many times they are offered for sale. In that respect, I am not assessing rarity per se, but the number of times Bourne's prints are likely to come up for sale.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of prints are offered for sale numerous times as sellers struggle to find buyers. Therefore, the same print may be counted five, ten, maybe even twenty times. Still that shows potential collectors that if they think a print is over-priced, all they need to do is wait awhile. Another print will inevitably appear at a lower price within a few days or months.
This constant availability should inform sellers that their prices are too high. Unfortunately, most sellers price their collectibles in a vacuum. Few sellers try to discover the prices Bourne's prints normally fetch in the marketplace. While a few sellers lower prices in efforts to find buyers, most never change prices. It is not uncommon to see some prints priced ten times higher than the highest price ever paid.
This is a testimony that, almost to a person, amateur sellers believe the pervasive myth that prices should reflect rarity. In truth, prices DO NOT reflect rarity; prices reflect demand. Not a single item will sell until prices come in line with demand. Sadly, there is very, very little demand for Bourne's prints. Hence, prices are extremely low relative to rarity.
- Rarity 1. Continuously available. Offered twice per month or more.
- Rarity 2. Very common. Offered about one time per month.
- Rarity 3. Common. Offered about six times per year.
- Rarity 4. Somewhat common. Offered about three times per year.
- Rarity 5. Somewhat scarce. Offered about one time per year.
- Rarity 6. Scarce. Offered about one time every two years.
- Rarity 7. Very scarce. Offered about one time every five years.
- Rarity 8. Rare. Offered about one time every ten years.
- Extremely rare. An engraving has been reported, but no confirmation has appeared.
There are several possibilities why the rarity of some engravings are designated as "unknown".
- Questionable attribution to Herbert Bourne. Sellers occasionally attribute engravings to Bourne which stylistically seem to be the works of others. Dates might seem wrong or occurrences don't seem to agree with other known appearances. Mistakes may persist for years until prints are examined in person.
- It is not uncommon for amateur sellers to mistakenly describe lithographs and photogravures as engravings. So far, no lithographs or photogravures have been positively identified as Bourne's.
- It is not uncommon for titles to be mistakenly transcribed. This is especially true when sellers are unfamiliar with subjects of engravings.
- Some engravings are extremely rare. It is possible that some engravings have been referenced only from their appearances in books; they may not, in fact, exist as individual prints. A few prints have been referenced in museum collections and no examples have been seen elsewhere.
I warn collectors, in the strongest way possible, to AVOID CONFUSING RARITY WITH PRICE.
This is no direct relationship between rarity and price. Rarity reflects the numbers of items in existence (seldom known) or numbers of items that appear for sale. Price reflects demand by collectors. The law of "supply and demand" is a moot point in collectibles. If there are very few collectors, then demand is low and prices follow.