How to tell if print is original or reprint?
I found an antique Hokusai print for sale at my local antique store, and the shopkeeper and I were unsure if it was an original Hokusai or a reprint. It seems to check all of the boxes for “original” that I read about online (a bleed-out of the image on the reverse that matches what would be expected of a woodblock print, minimal margin, washi paper, no pixelation when viewed with a magnifying glass) but it lacks the cartouche with the title. According to the shopkeeper, the only other cartouche-less edition of that piece that he could find while researching it was one sold at Sotheby’s, and that was a first state print.
The piece is in what the shopkeeper presumes to be the original Western frame, and there’s a newspaper dating from the 1880s in the frame serving as extra “protection”, so we think it’s at least that old. There is a small red circular stamp on the bottom left of the backside of the print. The shopkeeper obtained it from a late gentleman who had a large collection of East Asian, Indian, and Persian art, so the shopkeeper feels like it’s an authentic piece at least (ie it’s not a modern forgery).
When the shopkeeper put his photos of it into AI, it said that it was possibly a reprint from the Meiji era, but I haven’t seen any known reprints of first state (cartouche-less) editions on the ukiyo-e compendia websites. I’m inclined to think it’s a reprint but the lack of the cartouche is throwing me off.
I only have the two attached pictures of it, but the shopkeeper has more (especially of the backside). I did the best I could to minimize the glare. The piece is quite faded regardless of its authenticity.