The Expert Guide To Buying Andy Warhol Prints

Warhol’s print market is holding strong in 2025 – but the dynamics are shifting, and buyers need to be strategic. At Sotheby’s in September, The Scream (1984) sold for £6.6 million against a £3 million high estimate – a headline result that signals continued strength at the top end. Meanwhile, across the editions market, new records were set for African Elephant and Orangutan at Phillips London in June, and Grevy’s Zebra at Bonhams, showing that appetite for Warhol’s most resonant series is still growing.

If you’re considering buying Warhol, Endangered Species deserves close attention. Its bold graphic style has long been a favourite, but it’s the portfolio’s environmental themes that are now striking a chord – especially among today’s passion-led collectors who want their collections to reflect personal values. With trial proofs now rarely appearing on the market, signed main editions are setting records and proving their long-term strength.

We’re also seeing a rise in demand for Cowboys and Indians. These works are attracting buyers who are looking beyond Warhol’s celebrity portraits, drawn instead to their deeper commentary on American history and identity. With few original works from the series publicly available, the prints offer a compelling opportunity to own a piece of one of Warhol’s most layered narratives.

As a buyer, timing matters. When multiple Warhol prints appear across auctions – as they are this season – bidding power can split. This means strong works may sometimes slip through at good value, while others underperform despite quality. Knowing when, where, and what to bid on is crucial in a competitive market like Warhol’s.

Warhol’s print market continues to offer strong investment potential – particularly for buyers who understand how value is shifting across segments. Over the past 18 months, we’ve seen a recalibration between the high-value, often less liquid end of the originals market and the more active, accessible landscape of editioned prints.

At Sotheby’s in May 2024, a monumental Flowers canvas achieved £28 million, reaffirming the enduring appeal of Warhol’s most visually iconic and instantly recognisable imagery. By contrast, Big Electric Chair was withdrawn at Christie’s in May 2025 after failing to attract bids at its £30–40 million estimate. The issue wasn’t quality or significance, but market fit: the sombre subject matter and eight-figure price tag spoke to a much narrower buyer base. As collectors increasingly favour works that feel emotionally resonant, culturally relevant, or personally meaningful, the print market is showing greater resilience.

Take Endangered Species, for example: the complete set achieved a record £3.4 million in 2024, and in 2025, individual works from the series have continued to lead the market – reflecting a broader shift in where collector value is flowing.

As the chart above shows, 2022 marked a high point for complete sets (£28.7M), driven by standout sales of the Marilyn, Mick Jagger, Ads, and Queen Elizabeth II portfolios. In 2023 and 2024, value began concentrating in trial proofs – peaking at £3.0M – as collectors sought rarity and uniqueness. With many of these unique works now tightly held or trading privately, 2025 has brought a decisive shift toward main edition prints on the public market, which now account for more than 70% of Warhol’s total print sales by value.

For buyers in 2025, the opportunity lies in knowing which works speak to today’s market preferences – and securing them at the right time, in the right condition.

Prices for Warhol prints vary widely based on series, edition type, rarity, condition, and provenance. Signed main edition prints typically range from £5,000 to £600,000, while trial proofs – prized for their uniqueness – often command 1.5x to 3x the price of their standard counterparts. Complete sets range from a few hundred pounds for early illustrated books to multi-million-pound sales for iconic portfolios.

The most expensive Warhol print of the past decade remains the complete Marilyn set, which sold for just over £4 million in 2022.

The highest price paid for an individual Warhol print is £508,000, achieved in 2023 for a trial proof of Superman against a blue backdrop – a rare work from the Myths series. The top result for a signed main edition print remains £445,250, paid for The Scream in 2010 – a benchmark that continues to signal the ceiling for individual editioned prints.

Signed works from Marilyn, Mao, Campbell’s Soup Cans and Endangered Species remain the most frequently traded, but values are shaped by colourway, impression quality, rarity of subject, and whether the print relates to a significant original canvas.

These are the works we see trending in 2025 and expect to remain closely watched into 2026. Whether driven by rarity, cultural relevance, or recent auction performance, each has demonstrated strong market momentum and growing collector interest.

Double Mickey Mouse (1981): This two-panel screenprint is issued in a small edition of just 25, each featuring different colour combinations, making every print one-of-a-kind. Within the past five years only three have surfaced at public auction, the most recent selling for £479,041 at Phillips. For collectors seeking rarity with iconic mass appeal, this piece delivers both – and is likely to remain tightly held.

Cowboys and Indians (1986): This portfolio is gaining serious momentum. While Warhol’s celebrity prints remain staples, Cowboys and Indians has emerged as a deeper cultural narrative – exploring American mythmaking and Indigenous representation. In 2025, a trial proof of Geronimo set a new record at £88,900 (Sotheby’s March), while a main edition of Sitting Bull hit £146,949 (Christie’s April) – both now benchmarks for the series. With complete sets increasingly scarce and valued, owning a strong individual work offers long-term investment potential.

Sandro Botticelli, from Details of Renaissance Paintings (1984): This elegant print – reinterpreting Botticelli’s Birth of Venus – is currently one of the most sought-after from Warhol’s Details of Renaissance Paintings series. While standard editions rarely surface, a wave of trial proofs has entered the market in the past 12 months, each featuring unique colour variants. In 2024, a bright blue variant matched the auction record at £247,650, and a yellow version at £234,950. Most recently, a baby pink impression hit £232,200 (Phillips, September). For buyers looking beyond Pop culture icons, these works offer a fusion of Old Master reference and Warholian reinterpretation – with strong upward momentum.