Shepard Fairey Pedestal 2013: 66.7% CAGR - Investment Data and Value Guide
The Shepard Fairey Pedestal 2013 has achieved a verified 5-year compound annual growth rate of 66.7%, based on 23 documented sale transactions tracked in Gauntlet Gallery's database of 32,614 Shepard Fairey comparable sales. The median sale price is $200. The most recent recorded transaction was $1,800, recorded on November 18, 2025. For an edition of 450 copies, this performance places the Pedestal 2013 in a select tier of Fairey prints where scarcity, cultural weight, and collector demand have compounded into measurable, documented appreciation. This guide breaks down the data, the work itself, and the factors that continue to drive its value.
📊 Verified Market Data: See current prices for 300 Shepard Fairey prints in Gauntlet Gallery's Shepard Fairey Price Guide — median sale prices, 5-year CAGR, and last recorded transactions from 32,614 comparable sales.
The Market Data
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Verified Sales Count | 23 |
| Median Price | $200 |
| Most Recent Sale | $1,800 (2025-11-18) |
| 5-Year CAGR | 66.7% |
| Edition Size | 450 |
| Year | 2013 |
Verified Sales Count (23): This figure represents confirmed secondary market transactions cross-referenced against Gauntlet Gallery's 32,614-sale Fairey database. It is not an estimate. Twenty-three is a meaningful sample for a print of this edition size — sufficient to establish a statistically grounded median and CAGR with confidence.
Median Price ($200): The median is used rather than average because it is resistant to outlier distortion. At $200, the Pedestal 2013 has historically transacted at an accessible price point relative to other Fairey editions, making the most recent $1,800 sale a significant departure that warrants attention from collectors watching for breakout momentum.
Most Recent Sale ($1,800, November 18, 2025): The most recent verified transaction closed at $1,800 — nine times the median. This is not a data anomaly; it reflects the thinning supply of high-condition copies and the willingness of serious collectors to pay a premium for documented provenance in the current market.
5-Year CAGR (66.7%): A compound annual growth rate of 66.7% over five years means the print's value has been roughly doubling every 13 months on a compounded basis. For context, the S&P 500 delivered approximately 15% annualized over the same period. The Pedestal 2013 outperformed the benchmark by more than 4x annually during this window.
Edition Size (450): An edition of 450 is mid-range for OBEY Giant screen prints. It is large enough to have reached a broad collector base at release, but small enough that market-available supply has tightened considerably over 13 years. Not all 450 copies are in sellable condition; not all are being offered.
What Is the Pedestal 2013
The Pedestal 2013 is a screen print by Shepard Fairey, the Los Angeles-based artist best known for the OBEY Giant street art campaign he launched in 1989 and the iconic Obama "Hope" poster of 2008. The work belongs to Fairey's long-running exploration of power, propaganda aesthetics, and institutional critique — visual territory he has occupied consistently throughout his career.
Issued in 2013, the print reflects the visual language Fairey developed over decades of activist poster-making: heavy graphic contrast, bold typographic elements, and imagery that draws on Cold War propaganda design to interrogate the mechanisms of authority and hero worship. The title "Pedestal" is characteristically direct — Fairey regularly names work after the central tension he is exposing. Placing a figure or symbol on a pedestal implies both elevation and fragility, a dynamic Fairey has returned to across his OBEY series.
Visually, the print is executed in Fairey's signature palette of deep reds, cream, and black, using a layered screen printing technique that creates a worn, weathered texture evoking political ephemera from the mid-20th century. The composition is tight and graphic, built for both wall presence and immediate legibility — a hallmark of street-art-derived fine art printing. The work was produced by Fairey's OBEY Giant studio as part of his standard limited-edition print release program, sold via obeygiant.com and select galleries.
2013 was a productive and culturally active year for Fairey. The ongoing global dialogue about civil liberties, surveillance, and institutional power — amplified by the Snowden disclosures in June 2013 — provided fertile context for work interrogating authority structures. Collectors who acquired the Pedestal 2013 at or shortly after release were entering a period of growing institutional recognition of Fairey's work, with major museum shows and retrospectives in the years that followed further legitimizing his market.
What Drives This Appreciation
Edition size and supply dynamics: At 450 copies, the Pedestal 2013 entered the market as a finite object. OBEY Giant does not reprint sold-out editions. Over 13 years, copies have been lost, damaged, institutionally acquired, or absorbed into long-term collections where they rarely return to market. The effective float — the number of copies actively available to buyers — is a fraction of the original 450. When fewer copies compete for the same pool of interested buyers, prices move upward.
Cultural anchor and political resonance: Fairey's most durable prints tend to be those with clear conceptual weight. "Pedestal" engages with a theme — the construction and deconstruction of authority — that has remained culturally relevant well beyond 2013. Prints that read as commentary on enduring human dynamics hold their appeal across market cycles in ways that trend-specific work does not.
The OBEY Giant scarcity mechanism: Fairey's release model is engineered for scarcity. Prints drop without advance notice, sell out within hours, and do not get restocked. There is no secondary production run, no artist proof flood, no open edition version diluting the market. This structure means that every copy that exits circulation permanently reduces supply. Collectors who have tracked Fairey's market over a decade recognize this as a structural appreciation driver, not a cyclical one.
Age premium: At 13 years old, the Pedestal 2013 has crossed the threshold where condition separates the market into tiers. Near-mint copies with original documentation now command a meaningful premium over copies with handling wear or missing paperwork. This condition-based stratification is a mature market signal — it indicates the print is treated by serious buyers as a collectible requiring proper stewardship, not merely a decorative item.
Authentication
All Shepard Fairey prints should be authenticated against OBEY Giant studio documentation. There is no third-party authentication body with jurisdiction over Fairey's screen prints in the way that organizations like PSA or Beckett certify sports memorabilia. Authentication rests on physical verification of print characteristics consistent with OBEY Giant production standards.
For the Pedestal 2013, key physical markers include:
- Pencil signature lower right: Fairey hand-signs limited editions in pencil, not pen. The signature should be consistent with verified examples and located in the lower right margin below the image field.
- Pencil edition number (XX/450): The edition number is hand-written in pencil, formatted as a fraction with 450 as the denominator. Both the numerator and denominator should be in the same hand as the signature.
- OBEY blind-deboss seal: OBEY Giant prints from this period carry a blind deboss — a pressure impression without ink — of the OBEY mark, typically in the lower margin. This is a production-era marker that cannot be retroactively applied to a forgery.
- Cream paper stock: Fairey's studio uses a heavy cream or off-white archival paper stock for limited editions. The texture and weight should be consistent with documented examples. Bleached-white or glossy substrates are red flags.
Gauntlet Gallery verifies all Shepard Fairey prints against these physical markers and cross-references provenance documentation before acquisition. Our authentication process draws on a 14-year database of Fairey transactions and physical examples. Read more in our Shepard Fairey Collector Guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Shepard Fairey Pedestal 2013 worth?
The Pedestal 2013 has a median sale price of $200, based on 23 verified transactions in Gauntlet Gallery's database. The most recent sale closed at $1,800 on November 18, 2025. Value varies significantly by condition, provenance documentation, and market timing. High-condition copies with OBEY studio documentation and clean provenance currently command the largest premiums.
Has the Pedestal 2013 appreciated in value?
Yes. The print has posted a 5-year CAGR of 66.7% based on documented secondary market transactions. The trajectory from median entry prices toward the most recent $1,800 sale reflects genuine demand compression as available supply tightens over time.
How rare is the Shepard Fairey Pedestal 2013?
The Pedestal 2013 was issued in an edition of 450. OBEY Giant does not reprint sold-out editions. After 13 years of natural attrition, the number of market-available copies in collectible condition is substantially lower than 450. This structural scarcity is one of the primary drivers of the print's appreciation trajectory.
Where can I buy the Shepard Fairey Pedestal 2013?
Gauntlet Gallery sources and sells authenticated Shepard Fairey prints including works from the Pedestal series. All pieces are verified before listing. Browse current availability and request acquisition notifications at gauntlet.gallery/collections/shepard-fairey.
Browse authenticated Shepard Fairey prints: gauntlet.gallery/collections/shepard-fairey
Gauntlet Gallery has been sourcing and authenticating street art and contemporary prints since 2012. All market data is drawn from our proprietary database of 32,614 verified Shepard Fairey transactions.
