Grin Reaper

There is no unsigned edition recorded, so unlike most of the catalogue this image has no entry tier.

The practical effect is that the buyer pool is narrower and more specialist — people who collect the artist rather than people who want a recognisable picture on a wall. Those buyers are better informed, they look at condition carefully, and they are less swayed by the headline results that move the famous images. Prices tend to be steadier as a result.

The smiley recurs across the output — on the reaper here, on the riot officer in Flying Copper — and it functions the same way each time, defusing and sharpening the image at once.

For an owner, the useful consequence is that these images are often collected together. A buyer who owns one is a plausible buyer for another, which is an argument for a private approach to a known collector rather than a general saleroom, depending on timing.

A dark, heavily inked image, which hides light surface dirt better than a pale print does and shows creases and ink loss worse.

Any fold or crease that has cracked the ink film is permanent and conspicuous against the black. Check in raking light, photograph the full sheet and the margins, and look at the reverse for tape and old hinges.