# Milton Glaser artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/milton-glaser/ Profile generated: 2026-04-30T02:30:00.000Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Birth date: 1929-06-26 - Death date: 2020-06-26 - Nationality: American - Movements: Push Pin Style — mid-century graphic design movement emphasizing illustration-driven, eclectically styled visual communication - Common media: Poster design, Graphic design / logo design, Illustration, Print / silkscreen ## About Milton Glaser Milton Glaser (1929–2020) was an American graphic designer, illustrator, and educator whose visual language shaped postwar graphic arts and popular culture. Born in New York City, he co-founded Push Pin Studios in 1954, where he and his collaborators pioneered an eclectic, illustration-driven style that broke from prevailing modernist minimalism. His most widely recognized work, the I ❤ NY logo (1977), became one of the most imitated graphic symbols in history. His 1966 silkscreen poster of Bob Dylan, with its rainbow-haired silhouette, remains an icon of 1960s graphic art and is held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Glaser later founded WBMG in 1983 and designed identities for DC Comics, Brooklyn Brewery, and Stony Brook University. He taught at Cooper Union and the School of Visual Arts for decades, influencing generations of designers. ## Common works and media Glaser's output spans silkscreen and lithographic posters for music concerts, cultural institutions, and social causes; corporate logos and identity systems; book and magazine illustrations; restaurant menus, notably for New York institutions; packaging and label design; and exhibition graphics. The Bob Dylan poster (1966), Mahalia Jackson concert poster (1967), Olivetti Valentine typewriter campaign posters (late 1960s), I ❤ NY and I Love NY More Than Ever (2001) posters, and the Juilliard series (1989) are among his most frequently encountered works in appraisal and auction contexts. ## Market and appraisal context Milton Glaser's work has a deep and well-documented auction footprint spanning two decades, with 407 recorded lots and 231 priced results dating from June 2006 through April 2026. The market is liquid and active: 30 lots appeared in the most recent 12-month window (down modestly from 36 the prior year), indicating sustained but slightly softening throughput. Prices cluster in an accessible range with a median of $175 and a 75th percentile of $450, while the recorded maximum reaches $5,000. The iconic 1966 Dylan poster commands a premium—realizing $1,062 at Swann Auction Galleries in April 2025 and £2,200 at Lyon & Turnbull in October 2025—whereas later reproductions, after-print posters, and unsigned commercial pieces typically trade between $70 and $400. Major houses handling Glaser material include Swann Auction Galleries (a consistent specialist in graphic art), Poster Auctions International, RoGallery, DUMBO Auctions, Rago Arts and Auction Center, Los Angeles Modern Auctions, Lyon & Turnbull, Sworders, and Aste Bolaffi, giving the market broad geographic reach across the US, UK, and continental Europe. Categories most frequently represented are vintage posters, prints and multiples, and graphic design and illustration art. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence Milton Glaser's work has a deep and well-documented auction footprint spanning two decades, with 407 recorded lots and 231 priced results dating from June 2006 through April 2026. The market is liquid and active: 30 lots appeared in the most recent 12-month window (down modestly from 36 the prior year), indicating sustained but slightly softening throughput. Prices cluster in an accessible range with a median of $175 and a 75th percentile of $450, while the recorded maximum reaches $5,000. The iconic 1966 Dylan poster commands a premium—realizing $1,062 at Swann Auction Galleries in April 2025 and £2,200 at Lyon & Turnbull in October 2025—whereas later reproductions, after-print posters, and unsigned commercial pieces typically trade between $70 and $400. Major houses handling Glaser material include Swann Auction Galleries (a consistent specialist in graphic art), Poster Auctions International, RoGallery, DUMBO Auctions, Rago Arts and Auction Center, Los Angeles Modern Auctions, Lyon & Turnbull, Sworders, and Aste Bolaffi, giving the market broad geographic reach across the US, UK, and continental Europe. Categories most frequently represented are vintage posters, prints and multiples, and graphic design and illustration art. ### Appraisal notes An Appraisily appraisal for a Milton Glaser work would draw on the 407-lot auction record to establish comparable sales, with particular attention to title, medium (original silkscreen versus offset lithograph or later reproduction), dimensions, edition size, signature presence, printing date, condition (fold lines, edge wear, fading, restoration), and provenance documentation from Push Pin Studios, WBMG, or the artist's estate. The wide price dispersion ($10–$5,000) means that accurate attribution of a specific work to its correct print run and production era is critical to placing it within the right band of the distribution. The Dylan poster and I ❤ NY variants occupy the upper tier; exhibition posters and signed limited editions sit in the mid-range; unsigned commercial reproductions and later printings trade at the lower end. Photographs of the work, paper-stock analysis, and any publisher or printer marks would be evaluated alongside the comparable lot history. ### Valuation factors - Iconic-design premium: the 1966 Dylan poster and I ❤ NY variants realize 5–10× the median, with the Dylan poster exceeding $1,000 at US houses and £2,000 at UK houses - Print run and era: original 1960s–1970s silkscreen prints command significantly more than 1980s–2000s authorized reprints or after-print posters - Signature: signed impressions carry a marked premium over unsigned examples at every price tier - Condition: fold lines, edge wear, toning, foxing, and any restoration materially affect value for poster-format works - Provenance: documentation from Push Pin Studios, WBMG, the Glaser studio, or reputable gallery provenance strengthens both attribution and value - Edition size and publisher marks: numbered editions and identifiable printer/publisher information help distinguish original production prints from later reproductions - Market liquidity: with 30+ lots per year appearing across multiple houses, Glaser material is readily tradable but the wide price range demands per-lot comparable analysis ### Collector notes - The Glaser market is accessible: the median lot price is $175, and many unsigned posters and prints trade under $400, making entry-level collecting realistic. - For higher-value acquisitions, prioritize the Dylan poster (1966), signed exhibition posters, and limited-edition silkscreens from the Push Pin Studios era (1954–1974), which show the strongest price performance. - Be cautious of later reproductions of the Dylan poster—an after-print example realized only $70 at Lion and Unicorn in May 2025, compared to $1,062 for a period impression at Swann the same month. - European auction houses (Lyon & Turnbull, Sworders, Aste Bolaffi, Finarte) regularly offer Glaser material, sometimes in GBP or EUR, which can create pricing arbitrage relative to US-house USD results. - Swann Auction Galleries is the most consistent US specialist for Glaser graphic art; monitoring their semi-annual vintage poster sales provides a reliable price barometer. ### Market caveats - Of 407 recorded lots, only 231 carry price data; the remaining 176 are unsold, bought-in, or price-withheld, which may underrepresent the true ceiling or floor of the market. - Many Glaser designs were reprinted in multiple runs over decades; auction titles do not always specify print era, making automated price-band analysis across all lots imprecise without individual-lot verification. - Currency mix (USD, GBP, EUR) across US, UK, and European houses means that direct price comparison requires conversion and may mask regional demand differences. - The modest year-over-year decline in lot volume (36 to 30) could reflect market softening, a normal cyclical dip, or simply incomplete recording for the most recent period—no definitive trend should be inferred from two data points. - Some lots list Glaser as '(Aft.)' (after), indicating the work is a reproduction after his design rather than an original print; these lots should not be used as comparables for original impressions. ### Market evidence sources - undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/milton-glaser/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-milton-glaser-american-new-york-1929-2020-big-nudes-exhibition-poster-for-the-school-of-the-visual-arts-visual-arts-gallery-new-york-1968-sight-h-23-1-2-in-w-36-1-2-in-framed-h-24-1-4-in-w-37-1-241-c-cdca790233 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-milton-glaser-american-1929-2020-49-c-ee830c2673 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-milton-glaser-mexican-skies-166-c-bbc4c629ca - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-milton-glaser-dylan-vintage-poster-310-c-4ae4003b83 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-milton-glaser-american-1929-2020-366-c-c21401bbd2 ## Appraisily data basis Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from museum collections, library authority files, and official artist sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Milton Glaser, identity data is grounded in the Library of Congress Name Authority File, VIAF, RKD, MoMA collection records, and the artist's official site. ## Sources - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50029883 - VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/95751921/ - RKD: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/105735 - The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/2188 - Milton Glaser: https://www.miltonglaser.com/ - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1351481 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Glaser - Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500011653