Advice for a newbie in the world of Homefront posters

[Capt.Confederacy]

I'm thinking about "taking the plunge" into the world of homefront posters, specifically WWII ones. I know that paper items can (and have been mercilessly) been repro'ed and that this goes for war-related posters. Are there any general rules that one can use to weed out fake posters (specific sizes or paper quality) from the real McCoy's?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Rakkasan187]

I would go to a few museums and study the posters up close, if possible, becasue I know that in some cases the posters on display are reprinted to save them from UV light damage etc, but if you know a curator or someone that has access to the items not on display, they may allow you access to the back room and you can physically examine specimens to get a look and feel for the paper they were printed on.

 

Leigh

[scottiques]

Buying from reputable dealers is always a surefire way to get your "feet wet".

 

Go to a show and handle a few-- they can usually be found at militaria and general paper shows. Once you have seen a few good ones you will have a leg up.

 

Size and FOLD MARKS are a good indicator.

 

To my knowledge the reprints are not folded and most (all??) WW2 originals were originally folded for distribution.

 

Scott

[fstop61]

As previously stated nearly all Government printed WW2 posters were machine folded. They came in standard sizes 14x20, 20x30, 30x40 with some larger and some smaller. Government printed posters will have printing credits i.e. US Government Printing office 1944 or US Treasury Department, or what ever agency printed the poster. Now, privately-printed posters are a little trickier with their printing credits etc.

 

Go online and look at the several brick and mortar dealers-they have the real thing. Compare their posters to known reproduction dealers (there's a lot of them). (I have them all bookmarked for quick reference). Repro's will have a variety of odd sizes with usually no printing credits-and most of all no folds. Repro posters are printed on a real slick (glossy) finish-with crappy graphics.

 

Be careful of dealers that use the term "vintage" (a kiss of death).

 

Personally, I've been collecting posters for the last 30-years-so I know enough to keep me out of trouble.( I have them in every room of the house on walls and piled against the walls). lol

 

If you have any additional questions feel free to PM-me and I'll steer you in the right direction.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

Bob

[Capt.Confederacy]

Thanks for the advice, guys. This will help get me on my way.

[Mr.Jerry]

Good advice!

 

One thing I have even seen on some of repros is they actully printed the "fold marks" ( or more accurately- reproduced the ones that were on the original) so it "looked" like a real one. In a frame it would have been much harder to detect where you cannot "feel" them. Get a good loupe too. Know who you are dealing with, be cautious, but there are still many great examples out there to be found! Posters are great!

[vintageproductions]

One thing to add is once you get the hang of spotting the good from the bad, buy quality not quantity.

[jguy1986]

Condition is key with posters. If you like an image that's not in the best of shape, buy it if it's cheap enough and you plan on displaying it in your collection, but don't expect to resell it later at a decent mark up. Poster collectors are very finicky with condition unless it's the rarest of the rare. I've passed on some pretty nice posters because of a few stains which, while they don't really bother me personally, would make it much harder to sell later on. The good thing with posters (and all mass-produced period items) is that, sooner or later, another one of the same design will probably come along. You need to make the final call based on price, condition, and rarity.

 

Also, learn to tell the difference between period printing techniques (lithography, for example) and the modern dot-matrix printing methods. This is where a loupe or magnifier comes in handy. Light hits the colors in completely different ways, which becomes much more apparent after you've handled a few pieces. It's easier to tell on WWI era posters as almost all were made by stone lithography, but you can still discern between authentic WWII posters and those printed in the 1950's and later with a bit of practice.

 

Best of luck! I admit, I haven't been buying as many posters as I used to a few years ago, but I always keep an eye out for the good ones and the good deals. They are the best thing to have on the walls of any display area if you want to add some zing.

-- Jon