Determining the Value of a Vintage Poster

During the later 1970s, buying and selling vintage posters became very popular. The market focused on the most popular artists like Jules Cheret and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Posters made by artists from the Art deco period, like Fix- Masseau also became very popular.

If you want to start building your own vintage poster collection, it's important that you know how to determine a poster's value. Here are some tips that you can follow when appraising a poster.

Printing technique
Posters made between the late 1800s and early 1900s were created using the printing technique of stone lithography. Today, posters of this kind are very expensive and are considered as rare finds.

Lithography is a printing process where colors that are to be used are put on individually on a porous stone. With an acid, the design is created on the stone and ink is spread on the stone so that it is absorbed on the design. The stone is then pressed on a paper to transfer the design. Once one color had dried, the process is repeated using other colors with other designs etched on it.

Stone lithography is replaced by silk screen and photo offset when World War 2 ended. Posters that are made from silk screen and photo offset are cheaper than those created using stone Lithography although posters drawn using this technique may be sold at a higher price if the posters are rare, made by well-known artists or advertised a popular movie. Poster from Switzerland or Japan can also be very expensive.

Originality
Genuine posters are more expensive than authorized reproductions. Most posters created using the lithography technique only has one original copy as lithography is a very expensive technique to use in making posters.

Achievements and Recognitions
Posters made by well known artists like Cheret are expensive. Those made by Toulouse- Lautrec have a high value because his posters paved the way to the acceptance of the medium as fine art. With this, many artists started to venture on making posters.

Here is a list of some of the most popular poster artists in the industry

• Adolphe Mouron Cassandre
• Angelo Cesselon
• Henri de Toulouse- Lautrec
• Jules Cheret
• Jean Carlu
• Beautiful Angle
• Michael Byrne
• Milton Glaser
• Mark Young
• Favianna Rodrigues

Subject
Subjects may vary depending on the type of poster that is created. Some popular subjects are bikes, automobiles, well-known political propagandas and women.  Subjects of the poster depend greatly on the time that the poster was made.

Rarity
The number of copies that a poster has will have an effect on how much a poster is marketed. Posters that only have a limited number of copies would have a very high selling price.

The number of copies of a poster can be hard to determine. It's very important that you do your research well when buying a vintage poster that is said to be rare.

Preservation
How the poster is stored will also have an effect on its price. Posters of good quality and in good condition will normally be sold at a higher price than those that weren't preserved well.

When collecting vintage posters, it's very important that you know how to examine a poster well so that you don't pay too much for a poster that shouldn't be sold at a high price.

Creating A Unique Look With Vintage Movie Posters

Nowadays, a lot of people pay close attention to how their homes look especially their interior designs. And most of the time, home owners already have a particular theme within their houses; however, at times some are still at a loss as to how they can make their homes look unique in the inside as well as the outside.

There are absolutely loads of ways in order to decorate the interior of your house and instead of hiring a professional interior designer; you can simply rely and test your own creativity and your collection of vintage movie posters. Indeed, an interior designer can cost a lot and it is an unreasonable expense especially for those who are on a tight budget. You will be surprised at the same time delighted to see that with simple vintage movie posters as your primary theme, you are certain that you will achieve a unique look for your home.

Style And History Of Vintage Movie Posters

It is true that these vintage movie posters never grow old simply because of the style and history that they emanate whichever wall of your house they are set in. These posters do tell a lot of story especially to those people who appreciate the fine arts of the past decades. If you are wondering where you can possibly get hold of these vintage posters, well, you can absolutely purchase them in a lot of places including antique shops, thrift shops, consignment stores and even online shopping stores.

How To Put Up The Vintage Movie Posters In Your House

As soon as you have found the perfect vintage movie posters fro your home, you can already start decorating the interior of your house. However, putting these vintage posters up is not as easy as simply pasting them on the wall. In order to create a much more sophisticated and classic look, you need to add more details to these vintage posters. For example, if you are putting them up in your living room, the best way to do is by having them framed inside borderless glass casing. Such a piece will give you an effect of traditional art being mixed with contemporary architecture. Moreover, instead of having only one vintage movie poster inside your living room, you can add more and put them up in such a way that they are all complementing each other.

What is more, you may put these vintage movie posters up by combining them all into one big collage in order to create a huge wall art for your living room. Such a masterpiece can definitely liven up your room and can impress guests who will see your vintage wall art as the focal point of your house. There are indeed many ways in order to make these vintage movie posters work for your house and all it needs is a little of your creativity.

Even a simple quick search in the Internet can help you find the perfect vintage movie posters for your house. The great thing about it is that you can choose from a variety of movie posters starting from the 1940s up to the 1980s. In addition to the wide selection it offers, you will be guaranteed to get bargain prices for these movie posters which will work great for your budget.

Appreciating Vintage Posters

Understanding the history of posters will make you appreciate more the value of your vintage poster collection. Having knowledge on its history will also help you determine a poster's worth. A poster is any printed material that may be graphic, textual or both. Its purpose is to convey different kinds of messages. This is one of the reasons that posters are made to be very attractive and attention- grabbing.

Different Uses of a Poster

• Advertising Tool. Posters are used to advertise different events, like concerts, stage plays and films. They are also used to advertise and launch various products.

• Political groups also use posters to communicate political propaganda and protests.

• Posters are also used for artwork reproductions. Famous works of various artists are reproduced and sold in the market.

Types of Posters

• Political Posters
Political posters are very famous, especially during the first and second world wars. Most of these posters are calling f or awareness and participation of citizens. Examples of some slogans used in political posters are "Uncle Sam wants you" and "Loose Lips Sink Ships".

Political propaganda and motivation are easily communicated through the use of posters. These posters are distributed and displayed on the streets. Political posters had been very effective in raising people's awareness. Examples of political posters that became famous through time are those of the great patriotic war and Rosie the Riveter posters

• Advertising, Events, Film and Affirmation Posters
The most commonly colleted posters are those of movies and concerts.  The value of these posters can increase even more as time passes. Posters of dead artists are also given higher value. The limited number of comic book posters also has a high value because copies of this type of posters are very limited. Just like vintage comic books, a vintage comic book poster can cost you a fortune.

Affirmation vintage posters became popular collectibles not really because of how much they cost but because of the messages they convey. Messages like "Hope", "Leadership" and "Love" are some of the most common concepts of affirmation posters.

Cheesecake Posters
As the popularity of posters increases, another type started to circulate the market in the 1920s. These posters usually show beautiful women and commonly have an erratic theme.

A Brief History
Posters have been around for a very long time. The invention of different printing techniques and mechanisms gave birth to the modern posters around 1870. Lithography paved the way to bulk productions of posters.

According to John Barnicoat, with the popularity of posters, they eventually became a vital art form. Almost every artist wants to create a poster. Concepts such as Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Symbolism, Bauhaus and Hippie are commonly used and integrated in posters.

It is said that the Father of advertisement placards is Jules Cheret. He, together with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, created numerous poster arts in the 1890s, when the art of poster making started to spread in Europe.

If you want to start a vintage poster collection, it's always a good idea to choose the type of poster you want to collect and build your collection from there. Be careful in choosing posters to add in your collection as there are a lot of fake vintage posters circulating in the market.

Why We Love Vintage Posters

The popularity of posters had a sharp upward surge in popularity 10-15 years ago, and was directly attributed to the booming industry of vintage art. The increasing number of vintage poster collectors through the years, and the dwindling supply of authentic vintage posters have caused the price of these posters to become even heftier. An authentic one can cost thousands of dollars, and we're not even talking about the remaining originals that date back in the late 19th century. It's the perfect example of how the law of supply and demand works. This steady price increase is hard proof that collecting vintage posters is a good form of investment. It might be even more lucrative than the stock market. And it's highly unlikely that the demand for vintage posters is going to go down any time soon.

Jules Cheret was the first to have ever conceived the idea of poster making. He was an artist in France, who used posters as the means to advertise his business. Because of this ingenuity, he was awarded the Legion of Honor 1899. Many of the French people followed suit, and has used poster art to aggrandize and promote their respective businesses. The art of poster making has also spread in the Atlantic, and to many parts of Europe and North America. There was an estimated amount of 6,000 staunch collectors in North America alone by 1896. The rest, as they say, is history.

Since original vintage posters are very expensive and rare in the market, corporations have resorted to reproducing the originals, with the idea that they are going to sell like hot cakes. They weren't wrong on that premise. A reproduced copy can cost from $100-$500. They even used the original process of poster making, which is the lithographic printing process, to create reproductions. From that point on, people from the middle class who have wanted to own vintage posters but can't afford it are now able to purchase these reproductions without being much poorer for it. And a hardcore collector who has lost the bidding for a very important vintage piece, are likely to settle for a reproduction to fill up the vacancy of his vintage poster collection.

You would think that reprinted copies would cause the demand for the originals to go down. On the contrary, it even increased at an exponential rate. When people see the reproductions, they start to entertain the idea of buying the original copy. What better way to advertise the original than by showcasing the pirated form by the hundreds? Furthermore, the affordability of the reproductions allowed more people to have their own pieces of nostalgic art.

Vintage posters have permeated the twilight fancies and artistic sensibilities of the general public. It emanates a certain glow, a soulful ambiance into any room that it adorns. Connoisseurs understand that art is timeless, and having a piece of history produces an exaltation of that specific era a piece of art represents.

Vintage Posters 101

If you're planning to start a vintage poster collection, it's wise to know some things about posters, its kind and its history. Posters are not just papers with fantastic drawings on them. A poster has a story of its own. It's always good to understand why vintage posters are collected by many people.

It was in the late 1800s that people started really noticing posters. This is because various printing techniques were developed during this period. Stone lithography was first used for mass production of posters. After this, chromolithography was developed and there evolved a more vivid and colorful posters. As posters grow in popularity, several other printing techniques were used for cheaper and faster production. Examples of these techniques are photo offset and silkscreen.

Poster art became an accepted art form during the 1890s.  2 of the most famous poster artists of this period are Jules Cheret and Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec. Jules Cheret built a lithography office during this time and eventually became known as the father of placard advertisement. Because of its popularity in Europe, Paris became a street of art exhibitions and displays.

Some of the most influential poster artist in the late 1800s and early 1900s are the following:

• Jules Cheret
• Henri De Toulouse- Lautrec
• Alphonse Mucha
• Eugene Grasset

Some of these artists introduced Art Nouveau to the public.

Kinds of Posters

The development of different printing techniques and the surge of many poster artists made posters available for different uses. Some of the most popular types of posters are the following.

Propaganda Posters
Political messages and concepts are introduced to the public through political posters. Many groups have turned to poster production to increase people's awareness on various issues in the government. The Soviet Union for example, made so many productions, that their posters became great representations of the Patriotic war. Up until now, posters are being used to send messages to the public. Politicians and civic leaders use posters to communicate their platforms and plans for their country.

Advertising Posters
Posters are also used for publicity of events and various products. Comic book posters are very expensive because there are only limited productions of these posters. Concert posters of different bands and music artists are also expensive because once an event is done there would not be additional production of these posters.

Movie Posters 
Aside from political posters, movie posters are also a popular collection among vintage poster fans. The lithography poster of Frankenstein, a movie produced in 1931, is highly valued because it has been said that there is only one copy of it.

Cheesecake Posters
Cheesecake posters are popularly known as pin-ups. These posters commonly feature beautiful women and have erratic concepts.

Affirmation Posters
Affirmation posters feature positive messages. Some of the most popular messages used on these types of posters are about leadership and hope. Affirmation posters are created to motivate people.

There are many types of posters that you can collect. There are no rules for collecting posters. You can collect vintage posters according to the kind of printing technique used, the time posters are made or according to its kind. The important thing to remember when collecting posters is to know how to discern a fake vintage from a genuine vintage poster.