What do you think of these WWI Posters

[19delta-uav]

2 different WWI posters I picked up at a local auction What do you think? Anyone have an idea on value? They appear absolutely original.

[Croix de Guerre]

2 different WWI posters I picked up at a local auction What do you think? Anyone have an idea on value? They appear absolutely original.

 

 

The damage is really going to hurt the value I'm afraid. I paid less than a hundred dollars for an almost mint linen backed "The Hun his Mark" poster a month or two ago off of ebay. The other one in really good shape might bring 200 to 250 but I'm no expert on WWI posters.

[MAW]

Posters are weird.....sometimes they go high; sometimes you can get them relatively cheap because people don't want to mess with carrying them, framing them, etc.

 

"The Hun" poster is realisticly worth $125 IMO.....but if you're patient you might pick one up for $50 or $60.

 

The other one would be very nice...Howard Chandler Christy is a great artist.....but the damage is in a bad spot. It would be worth between $150 - $225, but "as is" I would say $80 or so. It will take the right person to put the effort into making the thing presentable/displayable.

 

FWIW....

 

Nice finds, though!

[IMPERIAL QUEST]

It surprising how "little" most of these sell for. I have a near mint condition "Beat Back the Hun" WWI poster that I purchased a few years ago for less than $200.00. I thought at first that I just got a really good deal until I started searching the web for original comparables...they were all within roughly the same price range (except for a few exceptions).

[bigredone]

The posters with less interesting graphics or just text don't do as well. Great graphics is what folks are after.

 

I saw a WW1 poster of FDR, who was assistant secretary of the navy at the time. It has a portrait of him and some quote of his about the war. His portrait was surrounded by swastikas!

 

John

[19delta-uav]

Very interesting, I have run across these before at auction and they were between 100 and 200 but these were $10.00 a piece so I figured I would grab them up because I feel as if the war bonds posters really add a lot to an era display. I have an idea of a way to make the one with the hole it it look a little better. Get a full sized reproduction and mount that behind the original. This way, you can see what it used to look like. Either that or just get a big cheep frame and frame it as is. I think it shows the ravages of time

[bigredone]

If it's a common poster and yours is damaged, then just frame it and enjoy it. Framers tend to use heavy tape to mount things, just so you know.

 

For something rare and valuable, get it encapsulated, sandwiched between mylar. Put unbuffered acid free paper behind the poster. It will absorb the acidity, taking it away from the poster. Encapsulating it without the UAFP and you'll cook an artifact in it's own acid!

 

An archivist can help you find ways to best display and conserve it.

 

At least it wasn't glued to fabric like some old posters!

 

Very interesting, I have run across these before at auction and they were between 100 and 200 but these were $10.00 a piece so I figured I would grab them up because I feel as if the war bonds posters really add a lot to an era display. I have an idea of a way to make the one with the hole it it look a little better. Get a full sized reproduction and mount that behind the original. This way, you can see what it used to look like. Either that or just get a big cheep frame and frame it as is. I think it shows the ravages of time

[Chris Liontas]

Awesome advice Bigredone!! I'm going to take that for my two German and French posters from WWI

 

I love Howard Chandler Christy posters--in mint condition they seem to go for absolutely funny money. I tried to get the "lead the way" poster at auction, but was quickly outbid. You have a great poster there--frame it an enjoy it.

 

As time goes on--you might be surprised what it goes for at an auction!

[bigredone]

Thanks. I want to contribute where I can.

 

Behind my desk at the legion hq there was a huge christy painting of the big lady geist or whatever she's supposed to be. The spirit of america. Anyway, it was the original and she looked like Claudette Colbert. It was the spirit of america hovering over the american legion. Must have been a magazine cover.

 

My favorite german ww1 poster is the soldier and his girlfriend admiring his medal. It's a copy of the american poster. Or vica versa. anyway, the idea of both sides of a war using the same propoganda to drive soldiers to fight. Creepy as hell...

 

John

 

Awesome advice Bigredone!! I'm going to take that for my two German and French posters from WWI

 

I love Howard Chandler Christy posters--in mint condition they seem to go for absolutely funny money. I tried to get the "lead the way" poster at auction, but was quickly outbid. You have a great poster there--frame it an enjoy it.

 

As time goes on--you might be surprised what it goes for at an auction!

[19delta-uav]

Great advice guys, This is done up on a piece of foam backer board and shrink wrapped right now, but who knows what types of frames I will be able to find big enough to fit them.

[Bluehawk]

Great advice guys, This is done up on a piece of foam backer board and shrink wrapped right now, but who knows what types of frames I will be able to find big enough to fit them.

Foam core backing board, so to speak, is one of the more neutral surfaces, so they'll be okay in there under shrink wrap for quite awhile - as long as they're kept out of the sun of course.

 

We had a collection of about 50 of these at a Michigan museum I worked for.

 

Obviously, the closer to pristine condition the more valuable they can be, BUT, as someone here said, these posters are weirdly valued.

 

Some really unusual ones have very low values compared with ones with more widely recognized images. Which kinda makes sense, but really doesn't - because usually the more popular images were produced in much larger editions.

 

The entire history of American illustrators who did the originals is quite fascinating.

 

Even more interesting (to me) is that this type of poster making pretty much went out of style after WWII. The DOD still makes a few which can be seen in very small sizes in, for example, VA hospitals.

 

But, since WWII most of the poster making that took place was of the ANTI-war variety.

 

I've long believed that some contemporary illustrators could get a nice little (and helpful) business going of making positive propaganda posters during the GWOT. I know I'd want to have one at least, and I'm sure a lot of other people would too.

[Jason G]

If you got those for 10 bucks each you still got a good deal for sure. The repros would cost you that. I love that "hun" one.

[bigredone]

I found several ww2 posters made by the New York WPA art project, all in fine condition, in a Hobart Indiana comic shop in 1979. A decade later the Library of Congress accepted them as a donation. Because that's just the kind of decent chap I was back then.

 

Recently an episode of Antiques Roadshow was pricing lesser posters of the same type as $500 each.

 

I like to think my donations are still in the Library of Congress, but most likely they accept everything that comes in and most go out again to seller agents.

 

At the end of the day, I doubt most military collectibles are of interest to major museums.

 

John

[Bluehawk]

Recently an episode of Antiques Roadshow was pricing lesser posters of the same type as $500 each.

 

I like to think my donations are still in the Library of Congress, but most likely they accept everything that comes in and most go out again to seller agents.

 

At the end of the day, I doubt most military collectibles are of interest to major museums.

 

John

> The pricing of posters such as those shown on AR is extremely iffy, and dependent on condition. As mentioned earlier there were many many different versions made in WWI. AR tends to give prices in retail and at auction levels... which are seldom what a private person's value is i.e. wholesale. Their constant advice for people to insure artifacts at "fair market value", usually in excess of retail, makes no sense at all. The value you have IN the object is only what YOU paid for it or can turn it over for in cash, not what it can be sold for by someone else. Markets can and do shift radically with fashion trends, as people here buying and selling miliitaria know. Today's hot item is tomorrow's flooded market.

 

> Museums and non-prpfit collections such as the Library of Congress are governed by extremely strict codes of ethics and accreditation which require:

- They must NOT accept anything other than those artifacts they hope to use either for the permanent or the study collection.

- Deaccessioning (i.e. selling) must be accomplished, again, by a good faith effort to inform the donor of the intent to offer the piece(s), and the actual sale must occur in a public auction where no staff member may bid.

- Not more than 10% of all artifacts owned by museum and libraries are ever seen or displayed. This is because 25% of their job is simply to preserve objects, and there are not enough big enough buildings to store or display what is already owned.

 

> Militaria would be of interest to almost any military museum where the era or type of object offered was appropriate, to certain local or regional history museums, and even at times to art museums (as with posters). Museums such as the Metropolitan in NYC have costume departments where certain unique or rare military artifacts may even be of interest. There are about 9,000 museums of different kinds in the USA.

 

> Far far far more objects are offered than are accepted into collections. Many times this is because the institution already has at least one of the kind, or because it is inappropriate to their mission statement, or sometimes because it is in very poor condition without funds to restore.

[bigredone]

I don't really regret my donation. I regret my trusting institutions calling itself a museum or archives that might not be all it pretends to be. LOC is ok, but some others.....

 

I didn't know that the Library of Congress had strict rules about accepting donations. And I certainly don't expect them to find me and send it back cuz they found nicer copies. I've worked in several libraries and the attitude towards donations is not as nice.

 

And I know about the antiques roadshow valuations, or any valuations really. Markets change. Anyone with a week's experience on ebay knows that.

 

Museums should be adequately funded, accredited, and working together with other institutions to preserve artifacts of value and make them available for study and exhibit. In a perfect world. But I've seen some lousy museums. I've seen some air museums that can only be described as some kind of tax shelter and little more.

 

I've spent time processing artifacts from mailed boxes full of donations that were left unopened in storage for decades. I won't say where.

 

And I gave a pile of very interesting ww1 insignia to a museum. After I turned it over, the guy who handled my donation asked me for contact information for Militaria & Varia!

 

But I also gave a child's issue WW2 US Civil Defense gas mask to the Indianapolis Childrens Museum. It was during the first gulf war, when there was talk of poison gas. Also, the museum had just opened a huge new atrium. My donation was in a special case in the middle of the atrium for six months. That was nice.

 

Collectors do a lot of good on their own. If they select, collect and preserve the right way, then find a good repository for the right things at the end of their collecting career, they've done museums a real favor.

 

John

 

 

 

> The pricing of posters such as those shown on AR is extremely iffy, and dependent on condition. As mentioned earlier there were many many different versions made in WWI. AR tends to give prices in retail and at auction levels... which are seldom what a private person's value is i.e. wholesale. Their constant advice for people to insure artifacts at "fair market value", usually in excess of retail, makes no sense at all. The value you have IN the object is only what YOU paid for it or can turn it over for in cash, not what it can be sold for by someone else. Markets can and do shift radically with fashion trends, as people here buying and selling miliitaria know. Today's hot item is tomorrow's flooded market.

 

> Museums and non-prpfit collections such as the Library of Congress are governed by extremely strict codes of ethics and accreditation which require:

- They must NOT accept anything other than those artifacts they hope to use either for the permanent or the study collection.

- Deaccessioning (i.e. selling) must be accomplished, again, by a good faith effort to inform the donor of the intent to offer the piece(s), and the actual sale must occur in a public auction where no staff member may bid.

- Not more than 10% of all artifacts owned by museum and libraries are ever seen or displayed. This is because 25% of their job is simply to preserve objects, and there are not enough big enough buildings to store or display what is already owned.

 

> Militaria would be of interest to almost any military museum where the era or type of object offered was appropriate, to certain local or regional history museums, and even at times to art museums (as with posters). Museums such as the Metropolitan in NYC have costume departments where certain unique or rare military artifacts may even be of interest. There are about 9,000 museums of different kinds in the USA.

 

> Far far far more objects are offered than are accepted into collections. Many times this is because the institution already has at least one of the kind, or because it is inappropriate to their mission statement, or sometimes because it is in very poor condition without funds to restore.

[Bluehawk]

I had a real bad experience too, back when. Drove me nuts for awhile, and really ticked me off.

 

All in all though, the code of ethics prevails most of the time... and I have hope that so many who become expert collectors will find a good solid public place for it to be displayed... museum or not.

 

If anyone gets caught accepting donations for direct purpose of selling, they lose their job, or should

 

Contemporary libraries, I have found, many aren't really collecting institutions at all, as you point out. It breaks my heart, actually.

 

In many cases, some of whom are right here on this forum, I would say the level of private scholarship is at least equal with if not superior to any curator's I met in almost 40 years in that business.

 

Some museum should be ashamed of themselves, and are piloted by fools.

 

I don't really regret my donation. I regret my trusting institutions calling itself a museum or archives that might not be all it pretends to be. LOC is ok, but some others.....

 

I didn't know that the Library of Congress had strict rules about accepting donations. And I certainly don't expect them to find me and send it back cuz they found nicer copies. I've worked in several libraries and the attitude towards donations is not as nice.

 

And I know about the antiques roadshow valuations, or any valuations really. Markets change. Anyone with a week's experience on ebay knows that.

 

Museums should be adequately funded, accredited, and working together with other institutions to preserve artifacts of value and make them available for study and exhibit. In a perfect world. But I've seen some lousy museums. I've seen some air museums that can only be described as some kind of tax shelter and little more.

 

I've spent time processing artifacts from mailed boxes full of donations that were left unopened in storage for decades. I won't say where.

 

And I gave a pile of very interesting ww1 insignia to a museum. After I turned it over, the guy who handled my donation asked me for contact information for Militaria & Varia!

 

But I also gave a child's issue WW2 US Civil Defense gas mask to the Indianapolis Childrens Museum. It was during the first gulf war, when there was talk of poison gas. Also, the museum had just opened a huge new atrium. My donation was in a special case in the middle of the atrium for six months. That was nice.

 

Collectors do a lot of good on their own. If they select, collect and preserve the right way, then find a good repository for the right things at the end of their collecting career, they've done museums a real favor.

 

John