About the PMC Archive
The Printer’s Marks and Chops Archive [PMC Archive] is a free, web-based, searchable resource for private collectors, curators, researchers, and museum collections professionals to aid in the identification of the blind stamps, chop marks, and others marks on fine art prints and other works on paper. The PMC Archive leverages a network of institutional collections managers and curators, auction houses, dealers, publishers, and printmakers to advance the visual database.
What are Marks and Chops?
Many definitions of the term “chop” or “chop mark” can be found in printmaking literature. One of the most comprehensive is the definition used by the International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA):
Chop Mark: A symbol, or logo that is either embossed or stamped on each print of a finished edition, including all proofs, as a way to identify the printer and publisher of the edition. A printer will often have his/her own individual chop that is separate from the publisher’s chop.
Why Do They Matter?
Too often marginalized, marks and chops are an essential and tangible way to determine who may have worked with an artist on a print. Given the collaborative nature of printmaking, this information is invaluable to better understand the network of publishers, printers, and artists, and interpret their influence on one another.
What Kind of Marks Will I Find on this Site?
This project aims to catalog chop marks and similar identifying marks from printmakers, artists, and print publishers. While many of our initial marks are from the 20th and 21st century and predominantly English speaking countries, we aim to include marks from a range of time periods and geographic locations.
We do not identify collector’s marks. For identification of those, we recommend the Lugt database. We also do not identify watermarks or other marks left by paper manufacturers, but encourage you to visit the Memory of Paper. We also exclude chop marks on coins and ceramics, or seal marks on non-print works of art.
Project Leads
Andrew Saluti
Associate Professor, Program Coordinator
Syracuse University Museum Studies
Theresa Engelbrecht
Collection & Exhibition Manager
Samek Art Museum, Bucknell University
Research Assistants
Abigail Shim
Syracuse University
assisted Fall 2025
Romina Mendoza Olvera
Syracuse University
assisted Fall 2025 and Spring 2026
Hannah Capucilli-Shatan
Syracuse University
current graduate assistant, Museum Studies G’27