Sometimes the publishing information found below the matting will reveal things such as the date, the name of the artist, location and name of the publisher. These things can sometimes indicate the piece is not a mass produced print, but an engraving, etching or lithograph and possibly quite a bit more valuable. Generally the older the print is (Pre 1900)and the fame of the artist, the more likely the print is to have a higher value.

The mass produced prints will generally be marked with very basic information, for example, “Sacred Heart, copyright 1912 XYZ Publishing Co. New York” on the bottom edge of the print. Etchings, engravings and lithographs on the other hand tend to have more information, such as the title in the center of the lower margin, the Artist/Etcher’s (sometimes right and left) and the Publisher’s name and address.

Unlike a lot of antiques and collectibles items, for Religious prints there does not appear to be a specialized price guide source for names and dates to determine values. Each piece needs its own research. I recommend starting with just the Artist/Etcher’s name, looking their name up in art databases such as askart.com or findartinfo.com to gain sales data and basic biographical information. With the basic biographical information, such as the Artist name, birth and death date, one can do a general and image search on Google or Bing. For example, searching for “Fred Smith 1871-1922″ will bring up more detailed biographical information, images of their work and often links to site selling comparable pieces or auction listings.

I know this seems like a lot of work, but I highly recommend any print be researched in this way. While it’s always a long shot a print that a print might be worth more than a couple of hundred dollars, you’ll never know for sure if you don’t check.

As far as Religious Fine art is concerned, it also does regularly turn up at Auction when churches are closed or sold off to raise funds, the results of these sales recorded by all the major auction houses online databases such as sothebys.com, http://www.christies.com and http://www.bonhams.com.

Inventory of Art work in churches is also often inventoried for insurance purposes. Most churches that have outstanding pieces by well known Artists and Sculptors are listed in a variety of print and online references. Such pieces are often making headlines in newspaper, print and online publications when they are part of traveling museum art exhibitions.