What does $2,000 get you in the art market today? More than you might think. At Christie’s mid-season print sale on Thursday, many pieces have estimates that resemble the price of the monthly rent on a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. “What’s appealing to many people about a mid-season print sale is that the price range is for the most part below $5,000 a print,” a specialist in the print department at Christie’s, Tudor Davies, said.

And the names of the artists are good ones. A number of Renoir prints have estimates that range from $500 to $5,000. Romare Bearden’s “Conjunction” (1979), estimated at between $1,800 and $2,500, is signed and numbered in pencil by the artist and contains the blind stamp of the printmaker as well. And “Le Paysan” (1927) by Jacques Villon after Vincent van Gogh (estimated at between $1,000 and $1,500), is intense enough to trick a few friends.

But the sale also features rarities that will likely fetch heftier prices. One highlight of the sale is a group of works by the master printmaker Floriano Vecchi, who founded the Tiber Press in New York in 1953. Although he’s not one of the more renowned artists of the period, Vecchi produced screen prints of works by some of the most gifted artists and writers in the Abstract Expressionist movement.

Screen printing commonly begins with a fine silk mesh. Ink is pushed through to create an image; the printer blocks off the part of the screen he wishes to keep blank on the paper. Vecchi was able to entice the Abstract Expressionists to his studio when they began to see what they could do with blocks of color. Vecchi collaborated with Joan Mitchell, Grace Hartigan, Alfred Leslie, and Michael Goldberg, as well as with leading poets of the New York School. “The history of modern printmaking in the 20th century is the history of people like Floriano and his friends,” Mr. Davies said.

The result of this collaboration was a complete set of 20 screen prints. Spread over four color volumes, the works — which came directly from Vecchi’s estate — form the centerpiece of the sale. One of the four bound volumes, “Permanently,” contains the poetry of Kenneth Koch and the accompanying prints of Mr. Leslie. Christie’s places an estimate of between $4,000 and $6,000 on the set of four, each of which comes in a fabric-covered slipcase.

Also for sale in this auction are the proofs that Vecchi created while in the process of assembling and publishing the bound collections. These pieces are perhaps even more interesting than the finished volumes. “Looking back on his work, there’s an extra dimension of experimentation going on in the artists’ work,” Mr. Davies said. “Floriano was inviting other artists into his studio and introducing them to printing. He matched what they wanted to do with the medium.”

In addition to “Permanently,” the lot of four bound volumes includes “Odes,” with poems by Frank O’Hara and prints by Michael Goldberg. The Tiber Press lots also include a series of three untitled screenprints that Goldberg and Ms. Hartigan used as proofs while they experimented with colors in late 1960 or early 1961. Christie’s expects those three prints, sold as one lot, to fetch between $1,800 and $2,200.

The Tiber lots are relatively rare in the world of printmaking, according to Mr. Davies. None of the screens exist today. Plus, many of the lithographs used in those volumes of poetry are trial images that are nevertheless signed by the artists working with Vecchi. “There’s that element of rarity in each of these prints,” Mr. Davies said. “And Tiber Press remains relatively undiscovered compared to other New York studios.”

A more famous combination of artist and printmaker produced some notable lots in this sale. In 1960, Pablo Picasso and the French printmaker Jacques Frelaut selected 45 of the artist’s earlier works to be made into a portfolio of prints. When the prints were completed, Frelaut had the box delivered to Picasso’s studio for him to sign. But Picasso disliked the task of signing and numbering prints, so he put the box aside and never returned to it. Today, the series of prints is known as “La caisse a remords,” or “The box of neglect.” “When his heirs were going through his estate, they found the box of these rare and beautiful prints,” Mr. Davies said.

In 1980, the Picasso family issued the prints with a stamped signature and number on each impression. A selection of those prints, from the property of a West Coast collector, will be up for bidding on Thursday. Two of the earliest prints from that group were inspired by Picasso’s first wife, the Russian ballerina Olga Koklova. The “Portrait d’Olga Picasso” is numbered 32 of 50 (estimated at between $5,000 and $7,000). The other, “Joie maternelle,” is from a 1922 etching (estimated at between $8,000 and $12,000).

Besides the mainstays of a print auction — such as Warhol and Lichtenstein — this sale includes 10 lots by Robert Rauschenberg, who died earlier this year. “People are asking what impact his death has had on the market for his works. This sale is an early gauge; it will be interesting to see how the market reacts,” Mr. Davies said.

One such lot is Rauschenberg’s “Trust Zone” from the Stoned Moon Series, a color lithograph signed and dated in pencil in 1969 (estimated at between $2,500 and $3,500).