Antique Etchings between £0 and £0
An etching is a print pulled from a metal plate bitten with acid, and the ones filed here run from 18th-century plates after paintings to pencil-signed British sheets of the 1920s.
What Are Antique Etchings?
Works on paper printed from an incised plate. The heading takes in etchings proper along with drypoints, aquatints, mezzotints and line engravings, since dealers file them together. Some come framed, some as loose sheets, and titles often record a pencil signature, an artist's proof, an edition number, or the support the impression was printed on.
The process goes back to the early sixteenth century, first as a way of reproducing and originating images. Its revival in the nineteenth century as an artistic medium in its own right is what produced the form you meet most often on Sellingantiques: a signed, limited impression pulled by the artist.
One name dominates. Herbert Thomas Dicksee appears in 109 of 416 titles, his dogs, hounds and big cats returning under the same plate names again and again across different dealers. Beyond that group sit 18th-century plates after paintings and antiquities, Art Deco figure work, and topographical and architectural views of Oxford, Eton, York, Edinburgh and London.
The dated field runs 1800 to 1960, with the 1920s much the largest band. Period labels are the dealer's shorthand and a few contradict their own title, so the printed or published date in the title is the firmer guide. About one listing in eight is a pair or a set rather than a single sheet.
Where Value Sits
A named hand carries the range. Titles that give an artist and a date outnumber bare ones, and the lowest end of the market is where the sheets sit that say only 'Antique Etching' or 'a pair of 19th century etching pictures'. Add a pencil signature below the plate mark, or proof status, and the sheet climbs: 'signed' appears in 51 titles, 'proof' in 10.
Colour and completeness both push upward. Hand-coloured impressions sit above plain monochrome ones of similar subject, and sets hold the ceiling of the archive: four coloured engravings of Raphael's Loggia, twenty-seven Regency hand-tinted prints, a collection of fifteen 17th- and 18th-century sheets. Size counts too, with 'large' turning up in 13 titles.
Within the Dicksee group the separators are narrower. Impressions printed on vellum rather than paper, and those carrying a plate year in the title, sit at the upper end of his own listings, while the ones described as signed artist's proofs hold the top.
Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for etchings between £0 and £0, calculated from the Sellingantiques database of over a million retail prices indexed since 2003. This retail price guide relies exclusively on Sellingantiques data; no external sources or auction records are used, so the figures do not describe the wider market.
The most expensive etchings ever sold on Sellingantiques were a pair by Herbert Dicksee, a lion and a lioness, sold in June 2025.
The Antique Etchings between £0 and £0 Glossary
- Pencil signed
- The artist's signature in graphite on the sheet below the plate mark, recorded in 51 of the titles here.
- Artist's proof
- An impression taken outside the numbered edition; 'proof' turns up in 10 titles, several of them Dicksee sheets.
- After
- The print reproduces another artist's composition, as in 'after Sir Joshua Reynolds'. It appears in 35 titles.
- Drypoint
- Lines scratched straight into the plate rather than bitten with acid, often combined with etching on the same sheet.
- Aquatint
- A tonal intaglio process giving washes instead of lines, sometimes paired with etching or drypoint in the same description.
- On vellum
- Printed on prepared skin rather than paper. In this archive it shows up only within the Dicksee group, and only a few times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the most common artist in this category?
Herbert Thomas Dicksee, by a wide margin. His name is in 109 of 416 titles, roughly a quarter of everything filed under the heading.
The subjects are dogs, hounds and big cats. A handful of plate titles come round again and again from different dealers, among them 'Ready', 'The Closed Door', 'His First Night from Home', 'A Place in the Sun' and 'The Prodigal'.
What period do most of these come from?
The early twentieth century is the centre of gravity. Of the 261 listings carrying a clean year, the 1920s is much the largest band, with the 1910s, 1930s and 1900s behind it.
The 18th century accounts for 38 listings, and another 43 are filed only as '19th Century'. Titles reach further back than the dated field does, including 17th-century sheets and a plate published in Rome around 1600.
Are engravings and mezzotints listed as etchings?
Yes. Dealers file drypoints, aquatints, mezzotints and line engravings under the same heading, so the category covers intaglio printing generally rather than acid-bitten plates alone.
The mezzotints here are almost always 18th-century portraits after a painter. Aquatint appears in 10 titles and drypoint in 9, often combined with etching on the same sheet.
How many come up for sale each year?
Around 40 a year come to market on Sellingantiques, and 88 different dealers have listed one.
That spread tells you something about the category. It is one almost every general dealer touches at least once, rather than the preserve of print specialists.
Do these ever sell as pairs or sets?
About one listing in eight is a pair or a set rather than a single sheet. 'Pair' appears in 22 titles, alongside sets of three, four, six, seven, fifteen and twenty-seven prints.
Sets sit high. The largest sums in the archive include four coloured engravings of Raphael's Loggia, twenty-seven Regency hand-tinted prints and a collection of fifteen 17th- and 18th-century prints.
What unusual things turn up under this heading?
Twice the object offered was not an impression at all but the etched copper plate itself, one a harbour scene and one bound up with a set of nudes.
Ten titles come from the Antiquities of Athens plates, with satyrs, Boreas, Zephyros and the Doric Portico among the subjects. One listing is a George III 'long engraving', a panorama of a minuet as danced at Bath.