Ugly Duckling: Zacharevic’s gold-embellished edition of 75

Cultprint released Ernest Zacharevic’s Ugly Duckling on December 4, 2025 at 10 p.m. Malaysian time. The edition contains 75 hand-embellished archival pigment prints, with 24-carat gold included in the specified medium. Each sheet measures 76×96 cm and uses 310 gsm Hahnemühle German Etching paper with deckled edges. The exact product page currently offers the print with an optional frame. Cultprint’s release and specification.

Gold does not mean a unique edition

UnHINged’s 2024 gold version is explicitly a 1/1, separate from its 24 hand-finished main prints and eight variant artist proofs. Ugly Duckling instead places gold within the description of an edition of 75. A seller’s emphasis on hand finishing or precious metal therefore cannot establish that an Ugly Duckling copy is a unique 1/1. The number and precise edition label need to remain visible.

A Dragon Amongst Men provides a second close comparison. Cultprint describes that 2024 release as an edition of 88 with 24-carat gold on archival pigment printing, also using 310 gsm German Etching paper. Its 96×50 cm format is more elongated than Ugly Duckling’s 76×96 cm sheet. Shared paper and gold treatment do not make the works physically interchangeable, and a frame intended for one format should not be assumed to fit the other.

Separate the historical release from the current offer

The December 2025 time is a historical sale milestone. Its continued presence on the product page does not announce another opening, and an optional frame is a presentation choice around the print rather than another edition. When requesting a quote, confirm both the selected frame and the delivered outer dimensions instead of relying on the sheet size alone.

Cultprint offers a currency selector and an optional frame. Obtain the current total for that combination before comparing another seller’s quote; a price for a framed copy and one for a loose sheet are different offers even when the edition number is the same.

Cultprint’s November announcement confirms artist signature, numbering and a certificate of authenticity. It also identifies the source as Zacharevic’s 2024 Aalborg mural, connecting the origami bird to Hans Christian Andersen’s story and the 1952 Danish banknote. That statement distinguishes the print’s documented lineage from an interpretation based solely on its image, while the edition size and paper still identify the collectible object.