What is this War "Bunds" Poster worth?

[Keisermeister]

What is this War "Bunds" Poster worth?

I Have the opportunity to buy this poster from an antique mall. I like stuff like this and it would be a great addition to the collection.

The gentleman had 165.00 on it and said he would knock of 15% so about 140.00 now.

The poster also has some minor damage on the bottom right hand corner, but still looks great.

And no this is not the actual poster, this is a photo offline for reference.
Thanks in advance!

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Re: What is this War "Bunds" Poster worth?

I love the look of that poster! If the poster you're thinking of purchasing looks as nice as the one you pictured here, then I think it's definitely worth $140.

The problem with posters is that condition's everything! Unless this one is really rare or something; for the money the dealer's asking . . . the poster should be in near perfect condition in my opinion.

As I always say . . . "buy what you like, then the condition really doesn't matter."

Dave

 

[Fossil_Diver]

Re: What is this War "Bunds" Poster worth?

War bond posters have been reproduced in mass quantities and there are far more reproductions floating around than there are real ones. Most of the real posters were printed on thin paper that resembles newspaper. They weren't made to last and they were made as inexpensively and with as little material as possible because there was a war going on and materials were scarce. If the poster is printed on thick stock then it is probably a repro. If printed on flimsy cheap paper it's probably real. The paper should look, feel and smell old. One of the hardest thing to fake is age. Good luck!

 

[diggummup]

Re: What is this War "Bunds" Poster worth?

War bond posters have been reproduced in mass quantities and there are far more reproductions floating around than there are real ones. Most of the real posters were printed on thin paper that resembles newspaper. They weren't made to last and they were made as inexpensively and with as little material as possible because there was a war going on and materials were scarce. If the poster is printed on thick stock then it is probably a repro. If printed on flimsy cheap paper it's probably real. The paper should look, feel and smell old. One of the hardest thing to fake is age. Good luck!

I agree. I do see some fold marks which "could" be a good sign. $140 is pretty much a top price for this poster (if authentic) with minor damage to the corner (IMHO). This poster was originally printed in 1942.

I thought I could add something to this concerning the testing of paper and cloth with black lights... Black (UV) lights work in general because the whitening agents used in the manufacture of white paper AND CLOTH prior to about 1950 will not fluoresce. Newer items will fluoresce due to modern bleaching agents. However a genuine period item that has been laundered with a modern detergent or bleach may fluoresce as well. So the blacklight test is not a catchall test, just a first level confidence test. I think most any UV blacklight will work that is within the UV spectrum. I use a small keychain type blacklight myself for looking at certain objects while out hunting for certain things.
Now some more info. about how to spot items that are copies or laser images. Regarding laser printed or copied images... These can be recognized much easier in many cases. In laser printing, the laser does not burn the text onto the paper as some people believe. It merely exposes the image on a photoconductive drum so that the image may be developed using toner. Toner is basically black powdered plastic that is transferred to the paper and then melted or fused into place using heat. Because of this the text is raised above the surface. By rubbing your finger over it, a texture can be sensed that is different from the paper in the areas where there is no printing. WW2 period and modern printing press printed material should have a uniform texture. How easily this texture is perceived will depend on the resolution of the printer or copier being used. Higher resolution machines typically use a finer toner and require less to generate a character on the paper. This makes it harder to detect. However most copies made on an office type copier have very thick toner layers compared to those done with computer printers. On some, a pass of the hand will let you feel every character, line and dot on the page. A press printed document will not have this. If the document has been folded, toner will typically crack and flake off the page exposing the paper under it. Press printed material will not do this. This can be another clue. Hope this helps.