by CAROL VOGEL 26.February 1988 nytimes
...but there also exists a far quieter group of collectors who in their own way are making a mark buying perhaps the least showy prints of all, those of the Old Masters. Although small in number and little known to art mavens, these buyers will descend on Sotheby's tomorrow at 11:45 A.M. to attend an auction of Old Master prints from the collection of the late Dr. Albert W. Blum, owner of a steel company. ''We've not had a sale of this caliber in decades,'' said Marc E. Rosen, who heads Sotheby's print department. ''It's a collection of a man who began buying around the first world war and collected steadily until his death in 1952. He purchased over a span of time that included the richest years of the century and was able to choose from an available range and selection of works not normally presented to collectors.''
Included in the sale at Sotheby's galleries, York Avenue and 72d Street, are all the major Old Master artists, such as Rembrandt, Durer, Schongauer and Lucas van Leyden. Two Rembrandt portraits of Jan Lutma, a goldsmith, dated 1656, are by far the stars in the sale (their presale estimates are $150,000 to $200,000 and $80,000 to $120,000). ''Both are brilliant,'' said David Tunick, the New York dealer.
But controversy surrounds much of the sale as dealers contend that many of the prints are not worth all the hype. ''A lot of it is mutton dressed as lamb,'' said Nicholas Stogdon, a New York dealer who heads the gallery N. G. Stogdon. ''But if it gets people started on print collecting, it's not a bad thing.''
Mr. Stogdon and others say this sale cannot be compared with one held at Christie's in London three years ago that included 300 Old Master prints from Chatsworth, one of the most celebrated of the English country houses. ''Blum was fairly obsessive in an old-fashioned way,'' Mr. Stogdon said. ''Basically he must have been a cheap buyer with relatively poor standards of connoisseurship who only occasionally would hit on a good thing.''
Still, Mr. Tunick and others predict the sale will do well - the auction is expected to total $3 million. ''Sotheby's has done a good marketing job,'' he said. ''The prints have not only been on view in New York, but in Amsterdam and Munich as well.''
What this auction points up are the complexities involved in purchasing prints, especially by Old Masters. ''Buying Old Masters presents the greatest number of pitfalls because there are so many variables,'' said Ms. Josselson.
While collectors of paintings have to worry about the problem of attribution, collectors of prints have to contend with determining the quality of the impression and the condition. ''People see printmaking as a quick medium; they have the image that they are produced with great velocity, like printing a newspaper,'' she said. ''Actually, that's far from the truth. It's a very slow, laborious process that requires a meeting of the minds between the artist and the printer.''
As a result, getting a print that is as near as possible to what the artist intended makes the issue of impression crucial, and not always easy to determine. ''Without the benefit of having seen many impressions of the same print, it's often difficult to know how good an impression is,'' said Mr. Stogdon. ''It takes a fine-tuned eye.''
Since the idea of strict limitation didn't exist until the 19th century, plates were often passed on for literally centuries (Rembrandt being the best known example), so that it would be common for a 17th-century plate to be printed again, say in the 19th century, the newer version being, naturally, a far cry from the one dating from the artist's time. For the most part there are indications such as the condition and the kind of paper used for the printing, as well as existing documents, that can help determine the date a print was made.
''Looking at an Old Master print is not so unlike examining a Chinese pot,'' explained Mr. Stogdon. ''You have to inspect it from the inside out, being aware of subtleties and nuances.'' Moreover, catalogue descriptions, most experts say, can often be misleading. Even a painstaking description cannot convey enough information. If, for example, a print has been washed or extensively restored, it's often hard to tell without having seen others to compare it to. ''When dealing with early prints there will always be a certain amount of restoration which, if it's done in a sophisticated way, shouldn't put off a buyer,'' said Mr. Stogdon. Often, however, the restoration is poorly done. According to experts, the Blum sale runs the gamut.
There are many fine works. Among them are ''The Standard Bearer,'' by Prince Rupert of the Rhine (up to $40,000) and a print of Samson and Delilah by Lucas van Leyden (up to $30,000). A work depicting ''Two Armies at the Battle of Ravenna,'' by Master Na-Dat With the Mousetrap is extremely rare, the only first impression of the print in this country (up to $60,000). Of poor quality, however, dealers say, is a scene of a winged child on a horse, by the monogrammist A F (up to $3,000), which is judged to be a common, late print. ''It's definitely true,'' said Mr. Rosen. ''It's not extraordinary, but it wasn't represented as such. It's not one of the major works in the sale nor was it estimated as a major work.''
Dealers also say that ''Christ Blessing the Virgin,'' by Martin Schongauer (up to $30,000), is believed to be badly restored. Mr. Rosen, however, disagrees with that assessment: ''The dealers are barking up the wrong tree. Yes, it's been restored, but it's not noticeable. It's exactly as described in the catalogue - not 'badly' but 'skillfully' restored. ''
While dealers say estimates ''go all over the place,'' they point out that a few inexpensive prints should appeal to the beginning collector, especially a group by Hans Sebald Beham ($800 to $3,500 each).
Most agree that it takes courage to buy works by unknown artists. ''This isn't a market for people with made-yesterday fortunes,'' said Mr. Rosen.