Many signed prints I own do not even include a verification document (not all artists distribute this).

NFTs do not need to limit duplication; the tokens are already unique, as each is addressable to a different contract hash. This is why, although there are many copies of the CryptoPunks contract for example, there is only one CryptoPunks token that tends to have a market around it[1]. Those tokens are linked with a contract address that has become widely recognized as stemming from the original project.

[1] - https://etherscan.io/token/0xb47e3cd837ddf8e4c57f05d70ab865d...

I am not talking about the NFT but about the artwork.

If you had an image file format that embedded an NFT and every device would refuse to allow copies then that would be something. But right now NFTs seem pointless to me because I can always just copy the underlying image once I see it online.

I answered a similar question here[1]. The economic value of art has historically been tied to the scarcity of access to its media. NFT presents an alternative paradigm that separates the signature (artist-signed token) from the artistic media (image, GIF, conceptual art project, etc), allowing the former to remain scarce & uniquely transferable while the latter remains abundant & widely accessible.

[1] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29160090

the fact that prints are reasonably difficult to duplicate that there will only be a limited number in circulation

How so? The author can (and probably does) sell signed prints all the time. How is a print difficult to duplicate?

Artists sell self signed prints all the time.

In limited editions e.g. 50 or 100 as they know that releasing more would reduce scarcity, prices would drop and no-one would buy their art any more.

And the prints are difficult enough to duplicate without having some artistic skill. Infinitely more so then choosing Duplicate on a computer.

> How so? The author can (and probably does) sell signed prints all the time.

Artists in the signed print run business don’t generally run new runs, for the simple reason that they understand the moral contract and more importantly the economic implications: if you do reprint, the value-add of your assertions plummets.

The same artists will usually have other non-numbered or print-on-demand art.

> How is a print difficult to duplicate?

A multi-layer screen print is not trivial to replicate without the original assets for the individual layers, and material information about the inks. That’s like asking how a painting is difficult to duplicate.