"As Is":
 Selling the property without warranties as to the condition and/or the fitness of the property for a particular use. Buyers are solely responsible for examining and judging the property for their own protection. Otherwise known as "As Is, Where Is" and "In its Present Condition."

Absentee Bid:
 A procedure which allows a bidder to participate in the bidding process without being physically present. Generally, a bidder submits an offer on an item prior to the auction. Absentee bids are usually handled under an established set of guidelines by the auctioneer or his representative. The particular rules and procedures of absentee bids are unique to each auction company.

Absentee Bidder:
 A person (or entity) who does not attend the sale but submits, in advance, a written or oral bid that is the top price he or she will pay for a given property.

Absolute Auction:
 An auction where the property is sold to the highest qualified bidder with no limiting conditions or amount. The seller may not bid personally or through an agent. Also known as an auction without reserve.

Accredited Investor:
 Any natural person whose individual net worth, or joint net worth with that person’s spouse, at the time of his purchase exceeds $1,000,000. Or any natural person who had individual income in excess of $200,000 in each of the two most recent years or joint income with that person’s spouse in excess of $300,000 in each of those years and has a reasonable expectation of reaching the same income level in the current year.

Acidic:
 The unstable molecular state in paper which causes progressive material breakdown (discoloration, integral weakening).

Acrylic Paints:
 Synthetic paints, with pigments dispersed in a synthetic vehicle made from polymerized acrylic acid esters, the most important of which is polymethyl methacrylate. First used by artists in the late 1940s, their use has come to rival that of oil paints because of their versatility. They can be used on nearly any surface, in transparent washes or heavy impasto, with matte, semi-gloss, or glossy finishes.

After (also: d`après):
 Lettering on a print indicates that the design or image is a copy of a known work by another artist.

Aging:
 Progressive deterioration caused by atmospheric components such as oxygen, moisture, temperature, any kind of light, particulates such as carbon, dust etc. that eventually affect every artwork.

Alkaline Buffer:
 In paper products (e.g. framing mattes, printing paper), an additive that raises the pH level to counteract potential damage to the print over time.

Appraisal:
 An evaluation of the fair market value of a work of art; in other words what the work would bring if sold at auction or by other means on the secondary market. Quite often the purposes of an appraisal are for insurance of the item, for tax purposes for donations and for inheritance. In order to be valid, the appraisal must be done by a certified appraiser, who usually evaluates the work by using comparables---other works of art that have similar characteristics.

Archival:
 For optimum print conservation, those materials that have safeguards against the aging process due to neutral or slightly alkaline pH.

Artist`s proof (also A.P., E.A.):
 Originally, test proofs made by the artist during the creative process. Nowadays this category is mainly a custom, where a certain proportion over and above the total print run (generally not exceeding 5-10%) is allotted to the artist for his personal use.

Auction:
 A method of selling property in a public forum through open and competitive bidding. Also referred to as: public auction, auction sale or sale.

Auction Block:
 The podium or raised platform where the auctioneer stands while conducting the auction. "Placing (an item) on the auction block" means to sell something at auction.

Auction Listing Agreement:
 A contract executed by the auctioneer and the seller which authorizes the auctioneer to conduct the auction and sets out the terms of the agreement and the rights and responsibilities of each party.

Auction Value:
 The price which a particular property brings in open competitive bidding at public auction.

Auction With Reserve:
 An auction in which the seller or his agent reserves the right to accept or decline any and all bids. A minimum acceptable price may or may not be disclosed and the seller reserves the right to accept or decline any bid within a specified time.

Auction Without Reserve:
 An auction where the property is sold to the highest qualified bidder with no limiting conditions or amount. The seller may not bid personally or through an agent.

Auctioneer:
 The person whom the seller engages to direct, conduct, or be responsible for a sale by auction. This person may or may not actually call or cry the auction.

Bank Letter of Credit:
 A letter from a bank certifying that a named person is worthy of a given level of credit. Often requested from prospective bidders or buyers who are not paying with currency at auctions.

Beneficiary:
 A person or entity named in a will or a financial contract as the inheritor of property when the property owner dies. A beneficiary can be a spouse, child, charity or any entity or person to whom the property owner would like to leave his or her possessions and assets.

Bid:
 A prospective buyer's indication or offer of a price he or she will pay to purchase property at auction. Bids are usually in standardized increments established by the auctioneer.

Bid Rigging:
 The unlawful practice whereby two or more people agree not to bid against one another so as to deflate value.

Bidder Number:
 The number issued to each person who registers at an auction.

Bidder`s Choice:
 A method of sale whereby the successful high bidder wins the right to choose a property or properties from a grouping of similar or like-kind properties. After the high bidder's selection, the property is deleted from the group, and the second round of bidding commences, with the high bidder in round two choosing a property, which is then deleted from the group and so on, until all properties are sold.

Blurring:
 Double or out-of -focus image that occurs when an image has been misprinted due to faulty alignment of paper and inked roller.

Bon a Tirer or B.A.T:
 (French, "good for printing") The artist's notation in the margin which is his approval that this print is the final contender in a series of trial proofs that meets his expectations for the whole edition. For the printer this is the key work-sheet. It is his absolute reference point for the technical execution of every print, which must have no variations, and which is compared against this B.A.T. line for line, color for color.

Brochure:
 A publication advertising and describing the items available for sale at public auction, including photographs, item descriptions, and the terms and conditions of the sale.

Buyer`s Premium:
 An advertised percentage added to the high bid to determine the total price to be paid by the buyer.

Cancelled Plate:
 When the printing run is completed, the print matrix is defaced, altered or cancelled in some way (e.g. lines drawn through the image) as a safeguard that the plate will not be resurrected for future editions. A cancellation impression is taken as a visual guarantee of the cancelled plate.

Cashier:
 The person who does the accounting at an auction.

Catalogue Raisonne:
 A systematic and comprehensive compendium containing all the known works of an artist. "Raisonne" denotes that every piece has been thoroughly and accurately appraised and described, as well as illustrated whenever possible. Title, dimensions, date, techniques, states, edition anomalies, printer, publisher etc. are meticulously recorded and assigned a permanent reference number: an indispensable aid for the collector, student and professional.

Clerk:
 The person who records what is sold and to whom and for what price.

Clipped (also "trimmed"):
 The reduction of the original margins of a print, often too close to the printed area, especially in early intaglio prints, where the image may have been so trimmed that the plate marks have been removed. Such transgressions are "forgiven" with incunabula. However, Whistler personally clipped most of his prints in a radical fashion, while some contemporary artists deliberately use over- large margins, so that artist's intent comes into play here too.

Collusion:
 The unlawful practice whereby two or more people agree not to bid against one another so as to deflate value or when the auctioneer accepts a fictitious bid on behalf of the seller so as to manipulate or inflate the price of the property.

Color Print:
 A print produced in color by (i) using a separate matrix for each color (ii) by hand inking separate areas of the single plate (iii) by forcing the color application through a stencil or (iv) by using inks of different viscosities. Colors can be printed side by side, or overprinted. Usually colors are printed from light to dark, but often the blues are printed first.

Colored Print:
 After the printing process, a print with color applied by free hand or with the use of a stencil.

Commission:
 The fee charged to the seller by the auctioneer for providing services, usually a percentage of the gross selling price of the property established by contract (the listing agreement) prior to the auction.

Conditions of Sale:
 The legal terms that govern the conduct of an auction, including acceptable methods of payment, terms, buyer's premiums, possession, reserves and any other limiting factors of an auction. Usually included in published advertisements or announced by the auctioneer prior to the start of the auction.

Contract:
 A legal agreement between entities that requires each to conduct (or refrain from conducting) certain activities. This document provides each party with a right that is enforceable under our judicial system.

Cooperating Broker:
 A real estate broker who registers a prospective buyer with Auction Company, in accordance with the terms and conditions for that auction. The broker is paid a commission only if his prospect is the high bidder and successfully closes on the property. Also known as a participating broker.

Deacidify:
 To chemically stabilize acid paper products in a dry or liquid bath treatment.

Delineavit:
 From Latin, with abbreviations of delin., delt., del.="he drew". Lettering on a print to denote the conceptual creative artist of the piece.

Double Image:
 A printing error caused by misalignment of successive overprinting plates in the coloration process. Can also happen when there is slippage of the paper or press underfelt.

Due Diligence:
 The process of gathering information about the condition and legal status of assets to be sold.

Embossing:
 Pressure printing of an image without ink (a.k.a "blind" embossing") to produce a raised three dimensional effect (Also, a "cast paper print").

Engrave:
 In print design or image creation, cutting the lines directly into wood, metal, stone or lucite with a graver, burin or electric engraving tool.

EP - "editor`s proof":
 A print impression reserved for the editors, or cromists, who assisted in the creation of the edition with the artist.

Estate Sale:
 The sale of property left by a person at his or her death. An estate auction can involve the sale of personal and/or real property.

Execudit:
 Lettering on a print, from Latin meaning "he issued", or published.

Facsimile:
 In the 19thC, skilled workshops were set up to faithfully recreate (but not "interpret") hand-worked images such as paintings for mass distribution. The primary technique they used was wood engraving (see also Xylograph). This highly organized, labor intensive factory method of reproduction was dealt a deadly blow with the advent of photography.

Fading:
 The progressive deterioration of the color or color balance of an image because of light exposure.

Fecit:
 Lettering on a print, from Latin meaning "he made", usually referring to the engraver or etcher who worked the image onto the plate.

Fillet:
 In framing, any spacer device that is placed between the paper and the glass to prevent contact.

Foul Biting:
 In etching, an overbitten area in which the metal surface becomes so eaten away or the lines undercut in the acid bath that the image loses definition and eventually crumbles. Foul biting usually occurs because of lines being etched too close together, or the acid solution being too aggressive or the acid bath timing being miscalculated, or the etching ground being poorly prepared or applied. However, it can also be used with artistic intent, because of the resultant dramatic grain in the exposed area when printed.

Foxing:
 Yellow to brownish spots (a mold) which can appear over time on paper, caused by impurities in the paper reacting with atmospheric conditions, particularly humidity, and exacerbated by non-conservation framing. Often easy to restore.

Giclee:
 Translated from French as "sprayed ink," this is sophisticated print making process. It is capable of producing millions of colors using continuous-tone technology. This can also be called an Iris print. These are often made from photographic images of paintings in order to produce high quality, permanent reproductions. The extra fine image resolution permits retention of a high degree of fine detail and allows deeply saturated coloring. It is also used for reproducing fine art photography. This is an economical way for artists to produce small quantities of limited editions.

Gouge:
 A V or U shaped cutting tool used for wood and lino cuts.

Grain:
 The surface of wood, stone or paper, which must be taken into account and accommodated before the work begins. Also: The general patterned effect of etched or aquatinted or otherwise dotted areas in the printed result.

Graphics:
 A generic term applied not only to line drawings, but also to all categories of original prints.

Grisaille:
 A work rendered in monochromes (French: "grey").

Half Tone:
 Gradations in the dark-light continuum achieved on the printing plate using specialized tools, techniques and/or chemical solutions. (See also aquatint, sugar lift, dotted manner, splatter technique.)

Hand Embellished:
 Limited edition prints that the artist has taken aside and highlighted features of the work or added new material to the print. They are signed and more valuable than a standard signed print.

HC or Hors Commerce:
 Prints in an edition designated as "not for retail". Usually reserved for the publisher and shouldn't exceed 5% of the total edition size.

Heliograph or Heliogravure:
 A photomechanical process used to create an intaglio plate by applying a photosensitive gel to the plate, which is then exposed to light.

Impression:
 A print taken from a plate, stone or wood block.

Impressit (also Imp):
 Lettering on a print, from Latin that denotes "he printed".

Incidit (also Incid. Inc.):
 Lettering on a print, from Latin that denotes "he engraved".

Income:
 For corporations, revenues minus cost of sales, operating expenses, and taxes, over a given period of time. Income is the reason corporations exist, and are often the single most important determinant of a stock's price. Income is important to investors because they give an indication of the company's expected futuredividends and its potential for growth and capital appreciation. That does not necessarily mean that low or negative earnings always indicate a bad stock; for example, many young companies report negative income as they attempt to grow quickly enough to capture a new market, at which point they'll be even more profitable than they otherwise might have been. also called earnings.

Incunabula:
 (from Latin "cradle") Prints from the earliest historical stages or waypoints of print development, such as the "Nurnburg Chronicles" and its moveable type. Any printed work before 1500 is generally referred to as incunabula.

Inking:
 The process of applying ink to the relief areas of a woodblock, the incised parts of an intaglio plate, the grease markings on a litho stone, or the scraper method in silkscreen.

Intaglio:
 The printing process whereby the image is lifted under the great pressure of the press from the ink pocketed in the engraved or etched grooves of a metal plate, and thereby transferred onto dampened paper which has been placed over the plate.

Inventit (also Inv. or In.):
 Lettering on a print, from Latin to denote "he designed" (the concept).

Japan Paper:
 A soft but strong and resilient tissue from the Orient used for mounting as well as for printing.

Key Block:
 The primary or master block, which contains the main outlines of the image. This anchor image is progressively filled in with the overprinting of other blocks in different colors.

Laid Paper:
 Hand made paper with the characteristic parallel grid pattern (the impression from the interwoven mould or matrix used in the paper making process). Imitated in machine- produced paper via the cylindrical "dandy roll".

Lettering:
 All the original printed inscriptions on the print relating to the image, such as "inventit"', "impressit", copyright, perhaps even the original dealer's name, etc.

Letterpress:
 Generic category for all forms of relief printing, as a distinct grouping from lithography, screen printing etc.

Light Staining:
 With prolonged exposure to light an artwork will deteriorate and can acquire a darkened and/or stained appearance.

Linocut:
 Print taken from an incised linoleum tile using the planographic printing method.

Listing Agreement:
 A contract executed by the auctioneer and the seller which authorizes the auctioneer to conduct the auction and sets out the terms of the agreement and the rights and responsibilities of each party.

Listing Broker:
 A real estate broker who has a listing on a property and cooperates with the auction company by allowing the auction agreement to supersede his/her listing agreement.

Lith:
 Lith.: Lettering on a print, abbreviation of "lithographit" (from Latin = "he drew on stone".)

Lithograph:
 Printing process from a prepared flat stone, metal or plastic plate. A drawing is made on the surface with a crayon or tusche (black liquid used most with a brush or pen, lithographic ink), then washed with water. When ink or pigment is applied to the plate, it sticks to the greasy sections of the plate (represented by the crayon or tusche) allowing a print to be made. The artist or a print maker under the artist's supervision then covers the plate with paper or fabric and runs it through a press. Color is transferred. Each color is applied by a seperate plate in the process.

Lithotint:
 A lithographic technique that imitates a wash drawing.

Loss:
 A reduction in the value of an investment.

A condition in which a company's expenses exceed its revenues. Opposite of profit.

Lot:
 An item or grouping of items to be sold at auction.

Maculature:
 Pulling a second proof without re-inking the plate in order to thoroughly clear away residual ink.

Mark:
 A personal logo that serves as the artist's signature on a print (Whistler used a butterfly as his mark). Also: a stamp or collector's mark that identifies the previous owner of a print, often au verso.

Matte (also Passepartout):
 A cardboard or paper, ideally of conservation or archival quality, with a cutout window that frames the print and protects it from touching the glass as well as providing an aesthetic element.

Mezzotint:
 Intaglio printing process which works from dark to light: the whole surface is roughened with spiked rockers whose action pits the metal from all angles and provides a stubbled background that prints as a rich and velvety black. Stage two of the process involves bringing forth an image using a burnisher and scraper, which now flattens different areas of the rough burr background. When printed this creates dramatic areas of highlight and half ton, which defines the image.

Minimum Opening Bid:
 The lowest acceptable amount at which the bidding must commence.

Mobile:
 A construction made of objects that are balanced and arranged on wire arms and suspended so as to move freely.

Monoprint:
 The single, unique print produced by rubbing on a paper placed on an image freshly painted on a polished glass surface or metal plate.

Montage:
 The superimposition of various elements (e g.. photomechanical design elements overlayed onto a silk screened image).

Mount:
 A protective backing, usually cardboard or heavy quality paper, preferably archival, attached to an artwork to provide both stiffening and protection from the backboard.

Multi-Property Auction:
 A group of properties offered through a common promotional campaign. The properties to be auctioned may be owned by one seller or multiple sellers.

Multi-Seller Auction:
 Properties owned by many sellers, offered through a common promotional campaign are auctioned in a single event.

Multiple Editions:
 Different editions of the same image, but on paper differing in quality, type of paper, and/or size; or special editions published for a certain country, or a special bound book edition. The catalogue raisonnee will document all of this.

Net Income:
 In business, what remains after subtracting all the costs (namely, business, depreciation, interest, and taxes) from a company’s revenues. Net income is sometimes called the bottom line. Also called earnings or net profit.

For an individual, gross income minus taxes, allowances, and deductions. An individual's net income is used to determine how much income tax is owed.

Non-Accredited Investors:
 Persons or entities who do not satisfy one or more of the alternative definitions of the term "Accredited Investor" and who, by virtue of their financial resources acumen, satisfy a joint venture manager or its authorized representatives that such investors satisfy the suitability standards imposed by Rule 506 of Regulation D and otherwise meet the finanacial investment standards so required by each joint venture manager.

Offset:
 See "Counterproof".

Offset Lithography:
 The transfer of any image in the lithographic printing process through an intermediary, such as the rubber blanket roller of the offset press machine. A great advantage is that as the image is transferred from plate to blanket to paper (or "offset"), the final image is not reversed. One of the four major "commercial" printing methods (see also letterpress, photogravure and screen printing).

Oil Paint:
 Slow drying paint made when pigments are mixed with an oil, linseed oil being most traditional. The oil dries with a hard film, and the brightness of the colors is protected. Oil paints are usually opaque and traditionally used on canvas. They can have a matte, semi-gloss, or glossy finish.

Oleograph:
 A color lithograph varnished and impressed with a grainy texture to simulate an oil painting, especially popular in the C.19.

On-site Auction:
 An auction conducted on the premises of the property being sold.

Opening Bid:
 The first bid offered by a bidder at an auction.

Original Print:
 A print whose concept and execution on the plate is, by strictest definition, done entirely by the artist, who usually signs and numbers the resulting limited edition. This is distinct from an "arm's length reproduction" which occurs with the transfer from one technique to another, such as the offset printing of a photograph of a painting. Direct involvement by the artist is key here. In addition, the "original" image as such exists only as the final printed version from the printed plate or combination of plates.

Painting:
 Works of art made with paint on a surface. Often the surface, also called a support, is either a tightly stretched piece of canvas or a panel. How the ground (on which paint is applied) is prepared on the support depends greatly on the type of paint to be used. Paintings are usually intended to be placed in frames, and exhibited on walls, but there have been plenty of exceptions.

Passive Income:
 Income that does not require active participation.

Per Annum:
 The amount of return on investment each year.

Photography:
 The art, craft, and science of producing permanent images of objects on light-sensitive surfaces. Most popular forms include black and white, full color and hand tinted.

Pinxit: (also "pinx"):
 Lettering on a print (from Latin Pinx = "he painted it") that denotes the original artist of the work for, or from, which the plate was made.

Planographic:
 A print taken from a level surface (lithograph or silk screen).

Plate:
 The printing matrix, originally of metal, but also used to designate the lithographic stone, or the glass matrix in the collograph and in photography.

Plate Mark:
 The indented line that occurs around a printed image caused by the intense pressure of the press on the plate and thence onto the dampened printing paper.

Pochoir:
 A French process where color is manually applied to a print through a series of carefully cut metal templates. Many artists of the School of Paris (Ecole de Paris) used this technique.

Positive and Negative:
 As adopted from photographic terminology - a positive design is black on white; a negative is white on black.

Power of Attorney:
 A written instrument duly signed and executed by an individual which authorizes an agent to act on his behalf to the extent indicated in the document.

PP - "printer`s proof":
 These pieces are designated for the printers or printing studios (atelier). They are usually released after the regular edition and other proofs are sold out.

Preview:
 Specified date and time property is available for prospective buyer viewing and audits. Also known as Open House or Inspection.

Printing Presses:
 Three of the four main types of the printing process require a specific type of press: (a) the Relief or Typographic (Platen) press (b) the Intaglio (roller bed) press (which can also be adapted for the relief print) and (c) the Planographic press, which relates to both lithography and offset lithography. (The fourth type of printing, silk screen, does not involve a press.) Each press can vary according to its manufacturer, country of origin and historical period. For each type of press it is the manual version that is most frequently used by the studio artist.

Private Placement Offerings (PPO):
 The sale of securities directly to institutional investors, such as banks, mutual funds, insurance companies, pension funds, and foundations. Does not require SEC registration, provided the securities are bought for investment purposes rather than resale, as specified in the investment letter.

Profit:
 The positive gain from an investment or business operation after subtracting for all expenses. Opposite of loss.

Proof:
 (see Artist's Proof and State Proof)

Proof Before Lettering (Avant Le Lettre):
 An impression taken before the lettering on the plate (notations re: artist, engraver, printer, etc.) has been made.

Provenance:
 A history of a print's ownership or stewardship (e.g. libraries, museums, etc.) sometimes traceable back to the time it was first printed.

Rate of Return:
 The annual rate of return on an investment, expressed as a percentage of the total amount invested. Also called return.

Re-strike:
 Any reprint of a plate made after the main edition, unsigned and unnumbered - often after the artist's death. While a re-strike is always made from the original plate, it is often an inferior impression owing to plate wear and fatigue.

Registration:
 The alignment of the various plates used in multiple plate color printing, so that each plate prints in the correctly co-ordinated position. In intaglio printing and lithography the paper is lined up with pins pushed through tiny holes that correspond to matching pinholes in the metal plate or litho stone.

Relief Print:
 Only the raised parts of the block are inked with a roller and the carved out or incised areas are left empty. This is opposite to intaglio printing where only the grooves are inked.

Reproductions:
 A print is called a reproduction if it has been made by someone other than the original artist of the conceptual design. A reproductive print often passes through a series of reproductive processes such as a lithographic print of a photograph of an oil painting. Nowadays some artists are a willing party to putting out a limited edition of such a sequence, which are also duly signed and numbered. The rules concerning "originals" and "reproductions" are often bent and expanded, so it is definitely a case of caveat emptor. The best way to distinguish between "originals" and "reproductions" is to arm yourself with knowledge and experience.

Reserve:
 The minimum price that a seller is willing to accept for a property to be sold at auction. Also known as the reserve price.

Reserve Auction:
 An auction in which the seller reserves the right to establish a reserve price, to accept or decline any and all bids or to withdraw the property at any time prior to the announcement of the completion of the sale by the auctioneer. See also Auction With Reserve.

Resist:
 The waxy or greasy ground which, when bonded to a metal plate, does not allow (resists) the penetration of the acid etching solution. Resist is also used for "stopping out" i.e. protecting certain parts of the plate to allow for controlled deeper etching in other parts of the plate.

Retroussage:
 An intaglio inking method of wiping the inked plate so that some of the ink is "dragged" out of the grooves and onto the plate surface, giving a softened and feathered printing result.

Return on Investment (ROI):
 The income that an investment provides in a year.

Reverse:
 An image is reversed in all printing procedures except for silk screen and offset lithography. Part of the artist's challenge is to learn to work in mirror image and to compensate for this. (It eventually becomes second nature.)

Ringman:
 Person responsible for assisting with the auction, most often watching the crowd for bids.

Rocker:
 The serrated, half-moon-shaped tool that is rocked back and forth in all directions over the entire plate in order to create the roughened surface for the mezzotint.

Roulette:
 The engraver's tool comprising of a revolving wheel and serrated edge of various widths and designs that is used to create dots on the plate, either directly, as in dry point, or indirectly on an etching "ground".

Screen Printing, Silk Screen, or Serigraph:
 A print produced by the process of inking a stencil with a squeegee through a silk mesh screen.

Sealed Bid:
 A method of sale utilized where confidential bids are submitted to be opened at a predetermined place and time. Not a true auction in that it does not allow for reaction from the competitive market place.

SEC:
 The Securities and Exchange Commission.

Seller:
 Entity that has legal possession, (ownership) of any interests, benefits or rights inherent to the real or personal property.

Sericel:
 An image which may or may not have appeared in an animated film that has been printed -- by serigraphy -- onto an animation cel, usually as part of a limited edition. A sericel would not have been photographed in the making of an animated film.

Serigraphy:
 A stencil method of printmaking. The image is imposed on a screen of silk or other fine mesh. Blank areas of the screen are coated with an impermiable substance. The ink or pigment in the process is forced through the mesh on to the printing surface. Each color in the process is created using a seperate screen.

Size:
 A gelatin additive that is included in the paper making process to give the final product a heightened integral strength and stiffness, as well as a certain amount of water resistance.

Soft Ground Etching:
 The process in which a drawing is made on a sheet of paper placed on a plate covered with "soft" (i.e. pliant) ground. Removal of the paper means that the soft ground adheres to the back of the paper where the sketched pressure marks occurred. The corresponding exposed area on the metal plate can now be etched.

Splatter:
 A method of creating the image in lithography. Litho ink is brushed through a screen so that it "splatters" onto the stone. The printed result, depending on the size and proximity within the dotted effect, gives half tones and pastels.

States (State Proof):
 At different stages in the creating of a plate the artist will check his progress by test printing or taking a "state" proof. A state will always differ in some way, even if minute, from the final edition image.

Steel Facing:
 A process of strengthening a copper plate for a printing edition size of, say, larger than 20. Since copper is a relatively soft metal, electrolysis is used to apply a thin layer of steel to the copper, which extends the life of image excised on the plate. Now the finished product, the print, has a guarantee of uniformity for the whole edition.

Steel Plates:
 Although even Durer used steel plates occasionally, they only came into general use in 1810, mainly for mezzotint and engraving. The steel plate produces a particularly sharp, clean, often extremely fine line and is characteristically easy enough to identify.

Stipple:
 An intaglio process in which half tone is achieved by adding numerous dots. (See also Dotted Manner, Roulette).

Subscription Agreement:
 An application by an investor to join a limited partnership. In most cases, the investor will have to fill out a form created by the general partner evaluating the investor's suitability for the investment in the partnership. Note:
All limited partners must be approved by the general partner. Becoming a limited partner rather than a partner is an attractive option since it means the investor's liability is limited to the amount he or she has invested in the partnership.

Sugar Lift:
 A method using sugar granules as part of the "resist" which splits and crumbles when immersed in water. This process lays bare on the plate those areas to be subsequently aquatinted.

Surface Tone:
 If a plate is not completely wiped after its application to an intaglio plate, the film that is left behind creates a delicate surface tone in the printing. This lends a softened quality to the print.

Terms:
 The period of time that an agreement is in effect.

Terms and Conditions:
 The printed rules of the auction and certain aspects of the Purchase & Sale Agreement that are read and/or distributed to potential bidders prior to an auction sale.

Three-Dimensional Assemblages:
 Built in deep shadow box frames, these images appear to have height, width, and depth. Most commonly, these assemblages are a series of layers of glass or serigraphic reproductions sandwiched together in a shadow box frame. An artist starts with a flat drawing or painting. On acetate panels, the artist redraws sections from the original work. Each panel is reproduced and elements are cut from the panels and hand-assembled. Layers of the hand-cut pieces are arranged and glued onto a flat print with adhesives.

Tie Bids:
 When two or more bidders bid exactly the same amount at the same time and must be resolved by the auctioneer.

Times the Money:
 A method of sale where multiple items in one given lot are sold per piece multiplied by the number of pieces. For example: if a lot has seven plates which are to be sold seven times the money and if the high bid is $1.00 the high bidder would pay $7.00 for the lot.

Transfer Lithography:
 The process by which the artist draws an image with a grease pencil on a specially treated paper. This paper is then applied to the litho stone, wetted down, and in the process the paper disintegrates, leaving the greased image to adhere to the stone, which is now ready for inking and printing. The joy in this is that there is no image reversal, as well as allowing the artist to capture his inspiration without lugging about heavy litho stones.

Tusche:
 A grease-based ink of varying viscosities for drawing or brush painting onto litho plates or stones.

Wash:
 Diluted tusche or ink to produce half tones on litho stones or plates.

Watercolor:
 Any paint that uses water as a medium. Paintings done with this medium are known as watercolors. When made opaque with white, watercolor is generally called gouache or bodycolor. Tempera is another exception. Colors are usually applied and spread with brushes, but other tools can also used. The most common techniques for applying watercolor are called wet-on-dry and wet-on-wet, along with the dry brush techniques dry-on-dry and dry-on-wet. Most watercolor painting is done on paper, but other absorbent grounds can also be employed.

Watermark:
 In the paper making process, a metal filigree symbol incorporated into the weave of the laid paper mould where the paper fibers cannot collect and coagulate. Hence, as the paper dries, the design emerges in the sheet of paper as a translucent or watery shadow image of the filigree symbol.

Wood Engraving:
 Relief print made by cutting the image into the cross grain of a wood block using the engraver's tools such as burin.

Engraver's tools must be used because the cross grain presents a much tougher working surface than the broadside grain.

Wood Pulp Paper:
 Paper made with cellulose wood tissue, which is then bleached. Highly unstable because of the lignan content and therefore very unsuitable for printmaking.

Woodcut:
 Relief print made by cutting the image into the broadside grain of a wood block using a woodcutter's knives and tools.

Wove Paper:
 Hand or machine-produced paper using a wire mesh so tightly woven that no "laid line" pattern is left behind.

Xylography:
 Term for early professional/commercial wood engraving. (From Greek: Xylon = Wood)

Zincography:
 A 19th Century term for lithography using a zinc plate instead of stone. Both zinc and aluminum come closest to approximating the ink receptivity of the original litho matrix of stone.