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Estate Edition or Posthumous Edition
The edition is printed from an original artwork after the death of the artist. It has usually been authorized by the artist prior to his death, by the artist's heirs or is the product of a publisher that was authorized by the estate or estate’s heirs to print from the original artwork of the artist. It should be limited in some way and the estate or the agent may apply a posthumous chop mark to each such print. In many cases, an "estate stamp" is made with a facsimile of the artist's signature, and unsigned pieces are stamped. Sometimes the art is estate-stamped and also hand-signed by a qualified third party; sometimes it is signed with the name of a qualified third party and not stamped; sometimes a qualified third party signs the artist's name instead of his or her own. Eyvind Earle established Eyvind Earle Publishing LLC personally before his death, to ensure that posthumous reproductions of his artwork would be made according to his standards. Only serigraphs created under the authority of Eyvind Earle Publishing LLC are authentic posthumous serigraphs. All serigraphs were numbered in ink, on the lower left corner of the image, and the artist's trademark signature was gold stamped on the lower right corner of the image by Eyvind Earle Publishing LLC. The designation "E" before the number stands for Estate, and distinguishes posthumous or estate editions. Also each serigraph has a holograph on attached on the lower right front border of the serigraph (which is the chop mark.)http://www.eyvindearle.com/Glossary.aspx

Artist Proof
Originally were the first copies printed and were used to indicate the artist’s approval of color reproduction and other mechanical aspects of the printing process. Once prized as best quality copies. Artist Proofs now exist solely as part of the printmaking tradition and are of a quality similar to the standard edition print. Artist's Proofs are distinguished by the abbreviation AP and are numbered separately (AP 1/20); they often represent 10 to 15 percent of an edition. The artist would sell his artist proofs, and the publisher would sell the regular signed and numbered edition. With the advancements and improvement of the printing, the Artist's Proofs are exactly the same as the regular edition. The artist proof smaller edition size gives it a greater value due to its scarcity, also some artists prefer to keep many of their AP’s rather than sell them, creating a limited number available on the market after the regular edition is sold out.