Have a question about Currier & Ives?

[ Original or reproduction? | Information? | Value? | Seeking a print? ]

We get more questions about Currier & Ives items than about any other type of print or map. There is a lot of confusion about who Currier & Ives were and what exactly is an "original Currier & Ives." The links below should help answer most questions you have about Currier & Ives.

How do I know if I have an original Currier & Ives?

Do you want general information about Currier & Ives?

Do you want to know the value of your Currier & Ives print?

Are you looking to buy a Currier & Ives print?

Christopher W. Lane with D.H. Cresswell & C. Cades. A Guide To Collecting Currier & Ives. Philadelphia, 2001. Paper. A basic guide which discusses the nature of Currier and Ives prints and the issues involved in collecting them. $8.00

Want information about Currier & Ives?

Most everyone has heard of Currier & Ives, but many do not know what this firm was nor what they made. "Currier & Ives" was the name used by a New York printmaking firm from 1857 until 1907. This business had been in operation since 1834, first as Stodart & Currier (1834) and then as N. Currier (1835 to 1856). Currier & Ives were printmakers; they were not artists nor did they make any trays, plates, mugs, calendars, or similar items. The only original Currier & Ives are prints made between 1834 and 1907. Though the name of the firm changed over time, all prints produced by this firm, even before 1857, are often referred to as "Currier & Ives prints."

If you are seeking general information about the firm, please visit our Currier & Ives information page.

If you want specific information about a particular print, you can follow the suggestions below. Note that for the majority of the over 7,500 different Currier & Ives prints there is not much more information to be found than the original date of publication and perhaps the name of the artist.

You can ask us to do research for you. Our rate is $175 per hour and we can provide you with a full typed description of your print.
You can visit our on-line listing of Currier & Ives prints to see if you can find the print in question there.
You can visit our links page which lists many sites containing further information on Currier & Ives.
You can look in the standard references on Currier & Ives:

Frederic A. Conningham Currier & Ives Prints. An Illustrated Check List..: This is the first and most used standard reference on the firm. The first edition listed about 5,700 different titles and by the time the last edition was issued in 1983, the list had grown to almost 7,000. It is to this "Conningham" list that most collectors and dealers refer to when citing a Currier & Ives print, the number often being given as, e.g., "C:1458." This volume is often available from our bookstore, along with other Currier & Ives references.
Gale Research's Currier & Ives. A Catalogue Raisonné.: This is an equally impressive and even more comprehensive listing of prints compiled and published by the Gale Research Company. This massive two volume set is not as often used as the more practically sized Conningham, but it does contain more items (7,500 listed titles) and has useful cross-references and indexes. Unfortunately, it is now out-of-print, though a second edition is promised soon.
The AHPCS Currier & Ives list.: Despite the existence of the huge catalogues compiled by Conningham and Gale, new titles still turn up from time to time. An effort is being made by the American Historical Print Collectors Society to maintain a current listing of Currier & Ives prints not recorded in either Conningham or Gale. The hope is that any newly discovered Currier & Ives prints will be sent to the AHPCS for inclusion there.

Want to know what your Currier & Ives print is worth?

If you are seeking a value for your Currier & Ives print, there are several ways in which you can proceed:

Look on-line: If you browse our Currier & Ives listing, you may be able to find the print, or a similar one, you are seeking a value for. Though condition, margins, color, etc. do affect values greatly, this can at least give you a ball-park figure for your print.
Price guides: There are quite a number of Currier & Ives price guides, and a good city or university library is likely to have one of these. We do not recommend these price guides for a number of reasons, but again they can provide a general ball-park figure for your print.

Are you looking to buy a Currier & Ives print?

If you are looking for a Currier & Ives print, visit our on-line listing. This is a complete list of all Currier & Ives print in our inventory. We try to keep this list up-to-date, but it may contain prints recently sold or not contain prints recently acquired.

If you do not see the print you are looking for, please let us contact us. We might have recently acquired the print and if not, we will be happy to keep your interest on file.

For further information, please contact:

106 E. Lancaster Avenue, Lower Level
Wayne, PA 19087 USA
610.808.6165
PhilaPrint@PhilaPrintShop.com