Currier and Ives Original Prints
from the collection of:

George Cohenour
4301 Beaumont Road
Dover, PA 17315
Phone: (717) 292-5345

Orders & Information, e-mail: cohenour@currierprints.com

Information from "CURRIER & IVES LITHOGRAPHS VALUE GUIDE" 

HISTORY OF THE FIRM

Nathaniel Currier, was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts on March 27, 1813. At the age of 15, he apprenticed in the Boston print shop of William and John Pendleton, where he was taught the art of lithography by Pendleton’s chief printer Dubois.

In 1833, Nathaniel left Pendleton’s and moved to Philadelphia to work with M.E.D. Brown. In 1834, Nathaniel moved to New York City to rejoin his mentor John Pendleton, who was operating a shop at 137 Broadway. That same year Currier and another printer, Stodart, formed a partnership buying Pendleton’s New York business.

This new firm of Currier & Stodart was a job printing shop handling commercial orders including music sheets. In 1835, Stodart and Currier dissolved their partnership. Currier, now on his own,. went into business with his new firm ‘N. Currier, Lithographer’ located at 1 Wall Street which continued as a job shop

Nathaniel experimented with portraits, disaster scenes and memorial prints, including a tribute to President William Henry Harrison who in 1841died in office. "Ruins of the Planter’s Hotel, New Orleans" is believed to be Currier’s earliest disaster print. In 1840 another disaster print "Awful Conflagration of the Steamboat Lexington" which was published in the "New York Sun" launched his firm into the spot light.

In 1852, Currier hired James Merritt Ives, brother in law of Nathaniel’s brother Charles, as a full time bookkeeper. James was born in 1824 and a native New Yorker, self-trained artist and a professional bookkeeper. He improved and modernized the bookkeeping methods, reorganized the filing system and with his artistic skills streamlined the firm’s production methods. In 1857, Nathaniel made him a full partner and the firm’s general manager. All prints published from this period on carried the new name of the firm Currier & Ives.

Currier & Ives had an uncommon flair for gauging the people’s interests. Over the years their selection of prints broaden to include almost every subject. Touting themselves as "Publishers of Cheap and Popular Pictures," Currier and Ives sold prints ranging from 20 cents to $4, depending on the size and subject. They sold retail as well as wholesale, establishing outlets in cities across the country and in London. .

Nathaniel Currier retired in 1880, and turned his share of the firm over to his son Edward West Currier. Nathaniel died eight years later at his summer home in Amesbury, Massachusetts. James Merritt Ives remained active in the firm until his death in 1895. He willed his share of the firm to his eldest son Chauncey Ives.

In 1902, Edward Currier sold his share of the firm to Chauncey Ives. In 1907, Chauncey sold the firm to one of his employees, Daniel W. Logan. Unable to continue due to health problems Mr. Logan was forced to liquidate the firm in late 1907.

ADDRESSES USED WHEN & WHERE

Currier moved the location of his store many times during the years the firm was in business. Prints with a copyright date will tell you when the print was first published. Many of the prints however do not carry this information. The only way to date them is by checking the address listed on the print against the years Currier used that address. The below listing will help you date as close as possible when a title was first printed

CURRIER LITHOGRAPHS OVER THE YEARS

There was a time an Antique shop would have a pile of various Currier & Ives lithographs in its establishment.  These were not really for sale but for the enjoyment of their customer's children while their parents sought out a piece of antique furniture. They were considered pretty pictures with very little value. This was the early 1900’s shortly after the firm went out of business.

Fortunately there were people who liked and collected Currier & Ives. In the 1920’s, we start seeing auctions devoted to the sale of one person’s Currier & Ives collection. Collections that did not contain 30 or 40 examples but 150 and more including rare titles not offered since.

In the Col. J. Philip Benkard sale of 1929 not only was the very rare "Life of a Hunter / A Tight Fix" part of his collection but the lithograph was in its original uncolored state. Prior to seeing this catalogue I never heard of one existing in black & white.

Looking at and comparing prices paid for a print in these early auctions is interesting. We wish there was a time machine to go back to that 1929 auction and buy "A Tight Fix" for the $1600 it brought or its companion "Life of A Hunter / "Catching A Tarter" for $60. These early auctions however did not always detail the condition of the print offered and we tend to forget the value of the dollar at that time. Before the publication by Gale however these old catalogues were the only way to see a picture of some prints

With the selection of the first best 50 large folios Currier & Ives in 1932 and the coverage the New York Sun gave the prints their popularity increased. Articles and books written about the firm helped people understand them better. Here was an antique many people already had in their home. "Wasn’t that picture Grandpa gave us we put in the attic a Currier & Ives?"  The search was on and many previously unknown titles were located. 

One of the reasons Currier & Ives lithographs remain so popular is not only do they remind us of a simpler time gone past, they have never been seen as a fad. They have had the unique status of someone always collecting them. As with most antiques however there are times when not as many people are collecting but Currier & Ives have always managed to hold their own.

Some subject matter like the religious prints Currier published have never caught on and their low values reflect this. Recently Clipper Ships and horses seem to have temporary fallen from grace and have recorded smaller increases in value. Trains, Mississippii River, and winter scenes continue their popularity with steady increases. The largest jump in value has been the very small folio, which has finally come into its own. Even through it all there has been a steady continual increase in their overall value through out the years.

Back to Information Links

Currier and Ives Original Prints
from the collection of:

George Cohenour
4301 Beaumont Road
Dover, PA 17315
Phone: (717) 292-5345

Orders & Information, e-mail: cohenour@currierprints.com

Currier & Ives Prints: Listing of currently available original prints
Print Consignments: Have a print you wish to sell ?
Collectors Books: Books dealing with the firm of Currier & Ives
Birds Eye Maple Frames: Custom Cut, Pricing & Samples
Conservation & Restoration: Describes Problems & Treatments
Restoration Examples: Photos show what can be done
Restoration Estimate Sheet: Helps with determining costs
Currier & Ives Lithographs Home Page

All Text and Images © 1998-2008 George Cohenour, All Rights Reserved