Antique prints still fresh for today's decor

The strong and enduring attraction of antique botanical and bird prints is mysterious.

Why are they always in style, never old-fashioned, generation after generation?

And here's another mystery: Why are some worth $40 and others $3,700 or more?

Besides their obvious beauty, these prints bring the joy of owning a piece of history, said Roy Sove of Mount Prospect, who with his wife, Sally, sells antique prints.

"You can bring beautiful color into your rooms," said Roy Sove.

Sally Sove added that young couples appreciate that they won't see the same things on their friends' walls.

Betty J. Weir, an interior designer based in Joliet, says antique prints fit with every style of décor except the ultra modern.

"They're true to life and they're beautiful. They bring nature indoors," said Weir.

She could imagine them in antique, distressed frames in a lake home she is decorating or trimmed in mahogany or walnut in a dining room with a traditional décor.

Sally and Roy Sove like to share the knowledge they have gleaned over 25 years in business.

Some attributes that affect value are obvious. These include age, condition and size.

The Soves carry prints dating from the early 17th to the early 20th century.

And like anything else, it doesn't hurt to have a name.

Even if you can't tell a photograph from a lithograph, you've probably heard of John James Audubon.

His hand-colored prints of American birds published in 1837 are justly famous and carry a price premium.

Tip: It's very easy to tell whether an Audubon is original. (And only one person who has brought prints into the Sove's store for identification had the genuine article).

The first ones were 29¼ by 39¼ inches. You will find those now for $70,000 and up, said Sally Sove. Audubon's later edition was 6½ by 10¼ inches. The Soves have a few of these for sale for $225.

In the 1920s insurance companies produced reproductions, but these are a different size.

"They're beautiful and decorative but not original," said Sally Sove.

Print collectors have other heroes, too, including a magazine that William Curtis started in the late 18th century that is still published today.

Roy Sove brings out an old copy, which looks almost like a pamphlet. But inside each magazine was the engraving of a flower that was not only hand printed but also hand colored.

Unlike the Curtis and Audubon prints, some of the very earliest ones from the 17th century were printed only in black and white and were hand colored later -- probably in the last 50 years as demand rose, said Sally Sove.

Among the Soves' prized possessions are large 1613 prints of the flowers on a German estate by Basil Besler. Only one of the 300 sets was colored, so obviously the color on the Soves' prints was added later.

Most of these prints were created for educational purposes, not decorative ones, said Roy Sove.

Consider Viennese posters from the 1880 to 1915 designed to teach school children about plants from trees to corn.

The Soves got many of their prints from an English wholesaler, but when he died they went five years without seeing another tree poster.

Finally the supplier's son found some in a storage shed.

Each of these chronolithographic posters was printed one at a time, and each color required a separate pressing.

The later posters can be identified by the Art Nouveau designs on the backgrounds.

The Soves have an ash poster for sale for $375.

Many of the prints were not run off or at least not hand colored until someone ordered them, said Sally Sove.

The subscribers often bound the prints, and the Soves have bought copies tied between heavy cardboard with ribbon and bound in fancy leather with pieces of tissue paper covering each print.

This all started for the Soves when their son, Keith, who had majored in art in college, came back from a European business trip with 25 prints.

At his suggestion, he and Sally opened a store called Chelsea Galleries in downtown Mount Prospect. Keith Sove eventually moved out of town, but when Roy retired from his job as a salesman for a printing company, he increased his role in the business.

The Soves ran the store until five years ago. Now they only sell at fairs.

And of course, they think your best guarantee of authenticity is to purchase from a reputable dealer.

An experienced collector can judge the age of the paper and tell whether the picture was hand painted.

What: Chicago Antiques Market

Where: 1350 Block of West Randolph between Ada & Ogden, Chicago

When: Last Saturday and Sunday of the Month, May through October. Opening weekend: Saturday and May 25

Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays

Etc.: Chelsea Galleries exhibits antique prints inside the Plumbers Hall

Information: www.chicagoantiquemarket.com or (312) 666-1200