“Dealers can be sensitive if they’ re showing original versions of whatever it is and then there is a reedition of the same or similar pieces,” says Suzanne Demisch, of the New York gallery Demisch Danant, which works closely with Parisian designer Maria Pergay to produce new and limited editions of her sleek metal furniture. “I don’t think it affects the market as long as people know what they are buying.”

But as more and more designs come to exist as reasonably priced reproductions that can be bought by the masses, the originals may become less interesting to the collecting elite. The market for Charles and Ray Eames suffered just such a dilution in value after the Modernica company churned out clones of the couple’s midcentury furnishings in the 1990s. It could take years to tell if the same fate will befall the originals from Kjaerholm, Laverrière and Prouvé—or whether, indeed, their newly editioned works will appreciate in value or, like the many casts of Rodin’s Thinker, suffer from familiarity.

"Issues with Reissues" originally appeared in the April 2008 issue Art + Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's April 2008 Table of Contents.