Although prices for new Bob Dylan prints have gone up in recent years, with the same print The Horse, from Dylan’s 2010 series, rising in price from £1,500 in 2013 to £3,292 in 2022 on the primary market, a signed Bob Dylan print is not necessarily the best investment.
Not only are some of Dylan’s earlier shows not yet entirely sold out — a good indicator of a print’s investment value — but his work also sells for less or the same as its original gallery costs on the secondary market.
Reissues of the same series affect the price of previous editions. Castle Fine Art has a print from the 2016 edition for £4250. Man On A Bridge (2016), similarly, is priced at £3500 on Castle Fine Art. Indeed, in its last showing at auction Man On A Bridge (2016) hammered at £850.
Despite being well into his 80s, Bob Dylan is still producing art — with no indication of slowing down. Not only is Dylan introducing new collections every few years, but new pieces from his existing series continue to be released, which only serves to lower the value of existing unsold prints. On the secondary market, of the prints offered from mid-2017 through mid-2022 – 11% went unsold & the average hammer price was £2036. Taking 2022 in isolation – 32% have gone unsold & the average hammer has been £1988.
In short, if you are looking for a return over the short to medium term, other artists outperform Bob Dylan.
At the top end of Dylan’s print values, there are numerous works by established artists such as David Hockney, Bridget Riley & Damien Hirst to be had on the secondary market. Artists to watch – such as Invader & STIK – would also have generated significant returns over the last five years. If investment is your primary goal or even a secondary consideration, then market data favours other artists.
For example, the average return on a Damien Hirst print in the last 5 years stands at 57.6% & David Hockney averages a return of 131.8% over that same period (mid-2017 to mid-2022). Showing even faster growth, although less established, the average return on a STIK print stands at 149.5% for the period (mid-2017 to mid-2022), with Invader showing a return of 340.6%. Demand for Hirst and Hockney is reflected in the percentage of works exceeding the high estimate. In the last five years that stands at 31% for Hirst and 44% for Hockney. The number is 43% for the works of Bob Dylan, however, the average hammer sits at £2036, with the high estimate in the majority of cases being less than the original retail price.
Of course, if you are a fan of Bob Dylan and investment potential is not a primary consideration, having a Dylan print – and by extension, autograph – hanging on your wall may be worth the price tag. Whilst the prints do not come up at auction that often, if you are willing to wait you should be able to acquire a work by Bob Dylan at less than retail on the secondary market.