The Print Market’s Resilience Against Traditional Asset Volatility
The behaviour of the blue-chip print market over the past five years illustrates why prints can be credibly compared with mature asset classes like equities, gold, or real estate. During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic – when global markets swung sharply and oil collapsed – editioned works demonstrated a remarkable ability to withstand volatility.
One of the clearest examples came in early 2020, when Sotheby’s was forced by to convert its planned live Prints & Multiples sale into a fully online auction. Instead of weakening the sale, the digital transition strengthened it with the auction achieving $3.4 million (with fees), the highest result ever recorded at the time for a dedicated Prints & Multiples sale. At a moment when equities were plummeting and entire sectors were grinding to a halt, blue chip prints adapted instantly to a new trading environment. This is behaviour far closer to gold or prime real estate than to high-volatility financial assets.
The strength of the category during this period was further underscored by the surge in Banksy’s print market through 2020 and 2021. A wave of new collectors entered the market through editioned works, expanding liquidity and deepening global demand. In financial terms, this was a moment where market breadth widened – something more commonly seen in growing equities segments than in niche collecting categories. These years proved that prints were surviving disruption and expanding under conditions that destabilised other asset classes.
This resilience continued into 2023, when the wider art market contracted for the first time in a decade. Where other art segments softened, prints held exceptionally steady. Christie’s delivered a record-breaking prints sale; Hockney recorded his strongest print year on record – momentum that has continued with new editions appearing in 2025; Warhol’s trial proofs emerged as a distinct collecting tier; and Lichtenstein’s late Nudes series gained significant traction ahead of what will be a milestone 2025 year in his market. These developments mirror patterns familiar in financial markets: during contraction, capital consolidates in high-quality, blue chip assets.
The long-term trajectory makes the argument even clearer. The 2025 October Prints & Multiples auctions totalled between $4.5 million and over $6 million at the hammer, representing roughly a 35–75% increase from the benchmark-setting $3.4 million achieved during the pandemic’s online transition. In asset-class terms, this constitutes sector-level appreciation comparable to resilient equity segments or high-performing real-estate indices.
The MAB100 captures this behaviour with precision. Its repeat-sales methodology shows a market that absorbs shocks more effectively than equities, adapts more quickly than real estate, and attracts capital in a manner similar to defensive assets like gold. This is why the print market is one of the few areas of the art world that can be compared credibly to conventional asset classes.
