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Everything You Need to Know About Collecting Nagel's Work If you have any questions about buying, selling or collecting, feel free to contact us using the Contact link above.

If you are interested in Patrick Nagel's work, there's a lot you should know before you spend a dime. Some work is collectible. A lot of work is not. But all of it is gorgeous, so read about what's what right here: The first consideration is why you're buying a Nagel piece. If you're buying it for sheer aesthetic pleasure, forget everything you're going to read here. You like it. You want it. You don't care that it will never go up in value. That's totally good. However, if you're intent on collecting pieces for both aesthetics and value, you'd better read on. Maybe even print this page. One word of caution: Although Nagel pieces may be available, only a fraction of the supply remains in collectible condition. Much of his work has been damaged, destroyed or discarded. Some has been "restored." Always ask and check before you buy anything from anyone. CATEGORIES OF NAGEL ART COLLECTIBLE & VALUABLE There are several categories of Nagel art, the first two being those produced before his death in February, 1984, and those produced thereafter. As a rule of thumb, anything produced after Nagel's death is generally of no collectible value -- with the exception of two bronze figures which were already in production at the time of his death. Anything printed, however, is simply of little monetary value with no chance of increasing. That having been said, here's a rundown of LIFETIME categories: Of his collectible printed pieces (serigraphs), Nagel produced series of 34 posters and 23 graphics. A poster is what Karl Bornstein marketed as "museum quality advertising," which means they feature some sort of typographic message along with the image (i.e., Casa Lupita, Galerie Michael, Piedmont Gallery, Silver Sunbeam, etc.). A graphic features no typography at all (i.e., Kristen, Mirage, Cleo, Gray Lady, etc.), and could be considered more as pure art. Know that over the course of his career, Nagel changed his signature style a number of times and left most of his illustration pieces unsigned. SERIGRAPHS: GRAPHICS vs. POSTERS Both graphics and posters were produced as limited editions,but graphics are considered far more valuable because they're limited editions. Of those limited editions, a very small number were collectible pieces, which were numbered and signed in pencil. The limited editions numbered between 30 and 150 (generally speaking). Posters have type and are essentially Bornstein's "museum quality advertising," andMirage would print additional pieces that were not signed or numbered in pencil, but were "signed in screen" (SIS). Those would number in the hundreds or even thousands, depending on the piece. Of the limited edition serigraphs, only about 30% are considered to have survived in pristine, collectible condition. Again, graphics are the highest priced. Posters in both SIS and overrun versions are also not as plentiful as they once were, but they are not really collectible, usually available for 5% of what a true collectible goes for. If you're buying for investment, limited editions are what to pursue. If you're not into investment, SIS is for you. ORIGINALS PENCIL SKETCHES Almost all artists sketch out their pieces on tissue paper or parchment in pencil. Those pencil sketches are rarely signed, because they were never meant to be considered as anything more than a preliminary concept. However, with the Nagel market going crazy, even some of these are now collectible, precisely because they are unique pieces -- not a printed series. They also hold value for their differences with the ultimate image, which Nagel collectors find fascinating. As originals go, pencil sketches are the most affordable. In recent years, pencil sketches have actually become more valuable than some posters, with younger collectors valuing the "original" aspect of a rough sketch over a full color printed piece. Many youngcollectors appreciate the fact that Nagel's own hand created the sketch, and what's more, there are no duplicates or prints of them. Each pencil sketch is truly original. ILLUSTRATIONS By far, Nagel's favorite genre was illustration, usually done on hot pressboard with acrylic and ink. Although most of his glamorous illustrations were done for Playboy magazine, know that Nagel -- like Henri de Toulouse-Latrec, Jules Cheret, Norma Rockwell and Alphonse Mucha before him -- began his career as a commercial illustrator, producing advertising, editorial and album cover art. By far, Nagell created more illustrations than any other kind of art, sitting at his drawing table. Because they were commercial pieces created on that table, most of those illustrations are much smaller than people think, unsigned, and usually measure less that 11" x 17" -- often smaller. Prices for illustrations vary greatly, commanding price in the five figure range. Generally, the more sensual the subject matter, the more expensive the piece. Pieces that can be confirmed to have appeared in Playboy command a premium (to this day, Playboy maintains the largest archive of Nagel illustrations and refuses to catalog or release them). CANVASES Roughly two years prior to his death (1982), Nagel produced somewhere between 90 and 110 pieces on canvas. These were largely oversized images that had been previously published in, or repurposed from, any number of media. Of those, a very few were actual originals, meaning the image can't be found anywhere other than on that particular canvas piece. Canvas pieces are considered to be the Holy Grail of Nagel art, commanding prices in the six figure range, with the highest price (as of March, 2021) being US$350,000 for Jeana. Many imitators try to pass their canvases off as genuine Nagels, but it's easy to spot them: Nagel hated painting on canvas, so he stretched his canvases and glued them on to wood before painting. As such, merely flipping a canvas over will reveal its true quality. If you see wood, it's likely genuine. There's only one canvas piece that is not wood-backed and it's owned by Nagel's daughter, who ill-advisedly had the wood removed and the canvas restretched. BRONZES In the final year of his life, Bornstein and Nagel jumped on the "bronze train" that was sweeping the country after Erté's amazingly successful series. While the basis of Nagel's bronzes were his own images, Nagel did not sculpt them himself and he did not live to see them produced. However, before he died, he authorized limited 180 piece runs of two pieces which sold out immediately. Very few of these bronzes remain in collectible condition and can be had for hundreds to low five figures. NOT COLLECTIBLE & NOT VALUABLE As recalled in the book, Nagel's work was largely imitated, forged and printed cheaply as lithographs. However, in an effort to maximize revenues after Nagel's death, both Karl Bornstein and the Nagel Estate created various series of his works to be sold as sets. Nagel Commemorative, Estate Editions and Playboy Series were all published after Nagel's death and hold no collectible value. Despite an attempt to make some of them more valuable by featuring an authorization signature by Patrick Nagel's widow, they're simply not. If you like the images, by all means. But buy them as cheap as you can get them. There are also plenty of unauthorized lithographs that are nothing more than cheaply printed posters, not authorized by anyone even remotely connected to Patrick Nagel. And there are still counterfeit serigraphs floating around from the 1990s, despite the FBI's legendary sweep back in those days. Finally, unscrupulous printers managed to smuggle out a number of imperfect (i.e., out of register or badly inked) serigraphs, which are of no value to anyone.