Pretty though she is, value is nil if fake

Q. Can you tell me something about the value of this print? The top of the oval is marked "L. Kart - Paris, copyright 1929." It is numbered 270/500, and has an embossed seal with a windmill and L.I. Paris. It belonged to my deceased parents, and my curiosity has been sparked by this image.A. The name of this item is "The Orange Seller" ("Marchand d'Oranges"), and it is the creation of French artist Louis Icart. But the question remains: Is it an original or a reprint?We found at least three dates (1880, 1888 and 1890) for Louis Icart's year of birth. One normally reliable source even listed two different dates in the same discussion: 1888 and 1890.We favor a birthday of Sept. 12, 1888, but this particular piece of factual information makes little difference to the answer of today's question. There is little doubt, however, that Louis Justin Laurent Icart - "Helli" to his family - started life in Toulouse, France, and began to draw at an early age. He was particularly interested in fashion (as a side note, one source said that he worked for a time drawing "dirty" French postcards), and his sketches made him somewhat famous rather early in his career. Icart moved to Paris in 1907 and started painting, drawing, and etching, which would form the basis of his fame.Icart served in World War I and began producing prints upon his return from the front. These images were generally aquatints and drypoints, and often portrayed women in sensual or even erotic poses evocative of the 1920s and the Art Deco movement.Icart worked for various publications and for fashion-design studios, and in 1914, he met Fanny Volmers, who was employed by the fashion house Paquin. She became his wife, and she is said to have inspired many of the Icart images of women.The problem with your Icart print is that there are far more fakes out there than originals. Reportedly in the 1960s and 1970s, many reprints were made on the West Coast of the United States in limited editions that number either 500 or 1,000.They were also widely reproduced in Florida at a later date. The Icart in today's question has the impressed windmill mark (publisher's blind stamp), which is a good sign but not infallible. Many pieces with fake windmill marks are out there, and these must be examined closely to determine authenticity.The size of an Icart print is important. This one should be about 18 by 14 inches. your example needs to be this size; if smaller, it is probably a fake.Lastly, you should take the Icart to a qualified expert and examine it under strong magnification. If she sees dots throughout the surface of the image, she is looking at a fake because etchings do not have a dot matrix. We have doubts that this piece is genuine. But if it proves to be the real thing, it can retail in the $2,500 range and sell at auction in the vicinity of $750 to $900. If fake, its value is negligible.bull;Contact Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson at Treasures in Your Attic, P.O. Box 18350, Knoxville, TN 37928 or via e-mail at treasures@knology.net.