Portrait of Winston Churchill

Do you have any evidence that Washington slept on that bed you want to sell? What about the satin bustier? Did it give more oomph to Mae West’s figure? More curves to Madonna’s? Did that painting really hang in Winston Churchill’s study?

If the answers are “yes,” then you’ve got great provenance.

Great what? In the worlds of art, antiques and collectibles, provenance is something that gives a lithograph, French sideboard or Barbie doll more pizzazz, more interest—more money.

It’s the history of the item. It’s the Hansel-and-Gretel trail of where it began and who owned it or used it along the way.

Establishing provenance for art, antiques and collectibles

What do you need to establish provenance? It’s pretty straightforward—sales receipts, gallery stickers, exhibition catalogs, catalogues raisonnés (for those who took Spanish in high school, that’s French for “carefully thought out,” in other words an annotated catalog), ownership records, newspaper/magazine articles about the work, articles/letters by art experts describing the work and even photographs of the artist or craftsman standing next to it. Audio or video of the artist discussing his or her creation or the testimony of someone close to the artist is also acceptable.

(If you’d like to learn more about an item pictured in this story, click on the image.)

Of course, record keeping through the generations—or even from last week for some of us—can be haphazard. In addition, there are many situations that are beyond control. Some are:

• No records survive for antique works

• Neglect in keeping records or preserving sales documentation when the works have been in the family for centuries

• Dealers and auction houses from previous centuries go out of business

• Wealthy collectors who take great pains to buy and sell anonymously

• Documentation loss due to natural disasters such as earthquake, fire, flooding

• Lack of protection from weather decay or pests

• Losing documents when moving

• Undiscovered or inaccessible archives

In the absence of valid documentation, establishing provenance can be tricky. Especially as the art-market boom has led to a proliferation of forgeries and con men like John Drewe, whose phony art and documentation fooled everyone for decades.

Forged P. Pollaiuolo (1441-1496)

Looted or stolen works, from a wartime era or illegally exported, are a major concern. Be especially wary when buying art and antiques that were in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s. With all the complexities of restituting the more than 250,000 Nazi-looted artworks to their former owners or their descendants, a checkered provenance might very well land you in the legal soup.

Henri Le Sidaner’s "Les Arbres Fleuris" (1933)

So it’s important to consult a reputable expert—someone with in-depth knowledge about that particular art/artist, several scholarly articles/publications to his/her name and well-respected credentials in the art, antiques and collectibles worlds.

Expert appraisal and authentication can, on occasion, lead to a startling revelation, as happened in the case of Tammy H. of Colorado. Thom Pattie, the chief Worthologist here at WorthPoint, recognized her  painting as “Coin De Paris, Rue de Meaux,” a work by the 20th-century Japanese artist, Takanori Oguiss. The painting later garnered $103,000 at Sotheby’s. Tammy tells her story in a WorthPoint video.

Tips for establishing provenance

Get certificates of authentication, warranties and guarantees from the seller.

Provenance documents must mention the work in question and must be original.

Check and cross-check previous owners, galleries and auction houses.

Find out what has gone for what at WorthPoint’s Worthopedia, http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia a vast database that contains prices, photos and descriptions of millions of antiques and collectibles. Also take a look at GoAntique’s PriceMiner, which has only a $9.95 monthly subscription fee.

A valuable source for finding out if works were lost or stolen is the London-based Art Loss Register and the International Foundation for Art Research.

Visit

The World Wide Web has opened the door for easier provenance research. No more having to trek to the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles or Harvard’s hallowed halls in Cambridge. Some clicks, and a wealth of information is available to you.

The Getty Provenance Index has more than 1 million records going back to the end of the 16th century.

The National Gallery of Art Provenance search allows you to search for information by artist, title and subject. It also provides provenance-search tips.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s site deals with Met-owned works, but can give you a better understanding of what establishing provenance is all about.

Chinese Art –Research into Provenance says its mission is to document “records relating to dealers and collectors who specialized in Chinese art during the first half of the twentieth century.”

Protect your investment in art, antiques and collectibles by spending some time researching provenance. You’ll be glad you did. And be sure to follow Jim Sturgill’s advice on inventorying your collection. You’ll be glad you did that, too.

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When collecting autographs, it is better to collect letters and documents and avoid clipped signatures (signatures that were cut from letters or documents). First, there is nothing historical about a clip, and Secondly, it is very hard to properly authenticate a clipped signature. Go for letters and documents and other “larger” items. Of course, a good number of letters and documents either have secretarial, autpen or printed/stamped signatures. A good rule of thumb is the routineness of the item, the time period and the author.

Sounds like a tall order? Not really. All fields, be it collectible, even investment vehicles (like the stock market) require either the consumer being the expert in the field (through learning) or entrusting that expertise to one who has been in the field for a long time.

I have been dealing and collecting in this field over 20 years and I still learn everyday……..find it exciting, too!!

When collecting, especially in the beginning, start small, READ (buy all the refernce books you can get your hands on!!). Also, know your dealer and his references!

John, however, is a member of Marks4Antiques.com, a unique Web-based reference service created by Worthologists Alex and Elizabeth Papalexis. Marks4Antiques.com enables subscribers to match identifying marks on antiques and to survey auction prices for comparable pieces. When the mark on the eBay figurine was checked, it turned out to be a recent reproduction. “It was a beautiful porcelain piece but probably not worth more than $150,” said Alex.

Googling doesn’t always get the answer

Some folks may try to Google for information on antiques or collectibles that have gotten their interest on eBay or RubyLane, but often that doesn’t give either sufficient or reliable information. Some collectors rely on books and catalogs—but getting them and staying current can be a chore.

“There is not as much information available out there as people think,” said Elizabeth. “There wasn’t an authoritative, easy-to-disseminate single source.”

Enter Marks4Antiques.com, which offers services for identifying ceramics, porcelain, pottery, china, silver, jewelry and decorative-arts items in general. An additional service offers a price search for antiques and collectibles sold at auction so that members can self-appraise their treasures.

Collectibles hobby becomes a business

All this began with the couple’s penchant for collecting. “It started as a hobby, became a passion and turned into a business,” Alex said. Trained as a physicist and engineer, he had a fascination for scientific instruments—old microscopes, barometers, sextants, quack medical devices and even old HP calculators.

Elizabeth began her collecting with Royal Winton Chintz cups and saucers, service sets and teapots, sterling-silver napkin rings and bonbon dishes. Often, the hunt involved getting up at the crack of dawn to buy pieces out of the back of collectors’ vehicles at what the British call a “car boot sale.” The hunt extended from English flea markets to shops and auctions across Europe and the United States. (For more about various types of porcelain, read Alex and Elizabeth’s blog.)

The couple moved from London to San Francisco’s Silicon Valley when Alex took a post as an executive with a high-tech company. At the same time, the Internet was just about beginning to enter our everyday lives, especially eBay. So, they stepped up their collecting and online sales of fine and antique tableware and decorative items. And that’s when they realized the need and opportunity for better and on-demand reference data. “With the Web, everything moves so fast,” Elizabeth said. “You often need information right away.”

Pictorial galleries

Marks4Antiques.com is an easy-to-use site with visual guides. All marks are presented in photos and are divided in pictorial galleries of shapes or letters. Each library of marks offers more than 12,000 images of identifying marks for pottery, china, ceramics, porcelain, jewelry, silver or silver plate, pewter etc, as well as extra background help. The Values4Antiques site allows subscribers to search a database for all types of antiques and collectibles sold at auction. Type in “Wedgwood plate,” and up pops pictures of recent Wedgwood chinaware sold at auction with dates and prices.

Members of the sites also have the option of sending marks for identification. “When we receive a question, it is like a jigsaw puzzle, and we won’t stop until we find the answer,” Alex said. Once they identify a mark, it is added to the online database. “Our goal is to make the sites as comprehensive and all-inclusive as possible. And, in a way, the contents are a live document that continually grows with updated information” said Elizabeth.

The couple is encouraged that they are moving in the right direction as more and more subscribers from around the world—the U.S. to the U.K. to South Africa and Australia—join Marks4Antiques.com.

“Our members tell us that they feel a special connection with us, especially because we are there for them and reply to their questions when they are about to buy or sell an item. It’s like having an antiques expert on retainer,” said Elizabeth. “You can’t do that with a book!”

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There is little doubt you are familiar with Tiffany and Galle glass, but did you know these companies also produced pottery?

These are not common items, and their value is also uncommon. If a nice piece of Galle or Tiffany glass becomes available, most people will know what it is. The same can’t be said of their pottery. When you become familiar with their pottery marks, you’ll be a step ahead of the pack.

Many companies produced items aside from their main lines that are often overlooked. Very simply put, people, including dealers, are not aware of these anomalies. At the 31 Club, we are on the hunt for pieces that may not be easily recognized. As members advance through the club program,  their hunt for valuable antiques and art will soon take them into the higher end of the market. And here, it’s important to be knowledgeable about what items from a particular company are rare.

Just to give you a taste of this, Kovels Price Guide lists two items for Galle pottery, both figures. One is priced at $2415 and the other $5175. Tiffany listings include sixteen pieces ranging from $200 to a high of $8,800. And, Today’s Photo is a Tiffany Vase that, back in 2003, sold for $11,000 through Buchard Galleries in Florida.  Imagine what it might bring today.

Several years back, when I was previewing items at an auction, my eyes fixed upon an unassuming piece of pottery. When I examined it, lo and behold – there was the Tiffany mark, LCT, all hooked together. I couldn’t believe my good fortune.

As I hovered near the piece, I overheard a couple of dealers discussing the vase. “Can you believe they would let fakes like that in this sale,” one said. “Anyone would know the piece isn’t Tiffany.” I had to turn away to keep from asking them whether or not they’d ever seen Tiffany Pottery before. When the auction commenced and the vase was offered, the auctioneer announced they didn’t guarantee the piece to be authentic. (I’m sure he’d heard a complaint from those two dealers about fakes.) 

At first there was no interest in this Tiffany piece, but finally they got a $100 bid. I made sure I sat on my hands in this early stage, but I can state with no hesitation, I was extremely anxious. When the bidding slowed at $150 I put my card up at $200, and that bid was followed by one at $225. I bid $250, and finally the auctioneer said, “SOLD.” I couldn’t believe I had just purchased a real piece of Tiffany pottery for $250. You see, most people have never seen one of Louis Comfort Tiffany’s pottery pieces. This vase sold a few months later just over $5700. Not bad for a “fake.” You may be fortunate enough to find some of their “fakes” also, ha ha.

What sweet little treasures these pieces can become, especially others think you are a fool for bidding on them or buying these pieces at house sales.

Treasure Hunters — Partner Up with 31 Club on high quality treasures you find. You Find It, We Buy It, We Sell It, You Net 35%.

Our Members are Newbies to Seasoned Dealers, making more money than they thought possible. E-mail us at info [at] 31corp [dot] com to find out more. My book, 31 Steps to Your Millions in Antiques & Collectibles is FREE when you join the club plus more. www.31corp.com

One of the most pervasive and longest running myths in the world of bottle dating is that the side mold seam can be read like a thermometer to determine the age of a bottle.(See image #1, which is an illustration pointing out the major “parts” of a bottle, including the side mold seam. Illustration from my Historic Bottle Website – a purely educational website.)

The concept is that the higher the side mold seam on the bottle (i.e., the closer to the lip) the later it was made – at least in the era from the early to mid 19th century until the first few decades of the 20th century. This dating tool was first devised by Grace Kendrick in her 1963 book “The Antique Bottle Collector.” This book was pioneering and reprinted many times into the 1970s and is probably the most common and widely quoted bottle book ever written, containing a wealth of generally good information.

This concept was articulated by Kendrick’s in a chapter entitled the “The Applied Lip” which contains an “Age Gauge: Mold Seams of Bottles” chart (Figure 9). Kendrick’s explains in the text (pages 45-47) that:

It is true that the mold seams can be used like a thermometer to determine the approximate age of a bottle. The closer to the top of the bottle the seams extend, the more recent was the production of the bottle.

The chart accompanying this statement notes that bottles made before 1860 have a side mold seam ending on the shoulder or low on the neck, between 1860 and 1880 the seam ends just below the finish (the glassmaker term for a bottle lip), between 1880 and 1900 the seam ends within the finish just below the finish rim (top lip surface), and those made after 1900 have mold seams ending right at the top surface of the finish, i.e., rim (Kendrick 1963).

Dating bottles is complicated

There are examples of bottles having mold seams that fit these date ranges properly. For instance the newest of bottles – those that were machine-made – do have seams ending right at the top (or on top of) the lip or finish. However, the issue of dating bottles is much more complicated than the simple reading of side mold seams. If it were indeed that simple a large chunk of my Historic Bottle Website would be unnecessary!

For example, the mouth-blown process that produces a “tooled” finish frequently erases traces of the side mold seam an inch or more below the base of the finish whereas the typical – and older – “applied” finish has the seam ending higher – right at the base of the finish (Lockhart et. al. 2005e). See image #2 which shows the side mold seam on a “malt tonic” bottle (entire bottle shown in image #3) dating from 1906 to 1916 based on information from business directories, other references, and additional manufacturing related features present on the bottle (the subject of future articles). As a side note, this bottle also has a crown cap accepting lip which was not even invented until 1892. Using the dating “thermometer,” this bottle would presumably date from the 1860 to 1880 period.

The reason I address this issue is that the concept keeps popping up in the literature of bottle dating and identification, ranging from Sellari’s books (Sellari 1970:5) published shortly after Kendrick’s book to as recent as Fike (1998:4) and Heetderk (2002:15). It is also frequently noted by sellers on websites such as eBay® when describing their offerings. For a broader discussion of this subject see the Bottles and Extras magazine article, which I co-authored, entitled Debunking the Myth of the Side Seam Thermometer (Lockhart et al. 2005e). This article is available on the Historic Bottle Website at this link: http://www.sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/Thermometer_BLockhart.pdf

The complicated issue of mold seams and dating is explored in various portions of my Historic Bottle Website (www.sha.org/bottle/index.htm), though in particular on the Bottle Body Characteristics & Mold Seams page (www.sha.org/bottle/moldseams.htm) and the Bottle Bases page (www.sha.org/bottle/bases.htm).

(For more information on the subject of bottle dating and typology – and the terminology used in the above descriptions – please consult my Historic Bottle Website at www.sha.org/bottle/index.htm. The references used in this article can be found listed on my website’s References page at: www.sha.org/bottle/References.htm)

Many old books do not include publication dates. Copyright dates, which are often incorrectly used to determine a book’s age, are usually much earlier than actual publication dates, because most classic books were eventually produced by a variety of publishers and sometimes with a variety of different illustrators. L. Frank Baum’s many Wizard of Oz books were produced in various editions, often with no publication dates.

The following guidelines, sorted by titles, can aid in identifying the age of the different editions.

- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – The first edition of the first book in Baum’s series was published in 1900 (with a copyright date of 1899). It was illustrated by W. W. Denslow and published by George M. Hill Company.

- The New Wizard of Oz – Bobbs-Merrill published this title in1903 from the original George M. Hill plates (with minor changes) and published further editions between 1920 and 1925, although the copyright date still read “1903”. (The only way to tell the true age of the Bobbs-Merrill editions is via fine textual points, illustration coloring, endpaper styles and cover styles.) Bobbs-Merrill also printed a Photoplay version in 1925 (in conjunction with the silent film The Wizard of Oz featuring Dorothy Dwan) and an MGM studio version in 1939. In 1944, the publisher again re-issued the book, but this time with new illustrations by Evelyn Copelman.

- Reprint publisher M. A. Donahue produced an edition with this title in 1913 from leased Bobbs-Merrill printing plates.

- The Wizard of Oz Waddle Book – Blue Ribbon Books used the original Bobbs-Merrill plates to create a version in 1934 with 6 die-cut “waddle” toys (which, when assembled, would waddle down a sloping yellow brick road).

- The Wizard of Oz Picture Book – Whitman Publishing Company produced a small book stitched with saddle wire on textured stock with illustrations signed by “Leason” in 1939.

- The Story of the Wizard of Oz – Whitman published this title in 1939, illustrated by Henry E. Vallely.

- The Wizard of Oz – Reprint publisher Grosset and Dunlap produced a version in 1939 illustrated by Oskar Lebeck.
The Saalfield Publishing Company printed their version of this title in 1944 illustrated by Julian Wehr.
Reilly & Lee Company published this title in 1956 illustrated by Dale Ulrey.

From 1926 to 1947, London publisher Hutchinson & Company produced several versions with this title. They used a scattering of Denslow’s illustrations, movie stills and other various adaptations. A version in 1947 also included color plates by H. M. Brock.

After the success of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum produced many additional titles in the series. But he and illustrator W.W. Denslow parted ways due to creative differences and ownership issues. John R. Neill, a much more talented artist, became the illustrator for the remainder of the books. These titles were produced in chronological order as follows:

- The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904) later changed to The Land of Oz

- Ozma of Oz (1907)

- Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz (1908)

- The Road to Oz (1909)

- The Emerald City of Oz (1910)

- The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1913)

- Tik-Tok of Oz (1914)

- The Scarecrow of Oz (1915)

- Rinkitink in Oz (1916)

- The Lost Princess of Oz (1917)

- The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918)

- The Magic of Oz (1919)

- Glinda of Oz (1920)

Most of the early versions of these books contain the original copyright dates but no publication dates. However, dating these books, for the most part, is relatively easy by following a few simple points:

1) Reilly & Britton published all the first editions between 1904 and 1918 (the last title they produced was The Tin Woodman of Oz). In some cases, Reilly & Britton published more than one edition. The true first edition of The Road to Oz has tinted internal pages in pastel colors. The true first edition of The Emerald City of Oz has a front cover of several characters in a coach traveling through the city, with distinctive metallic green highlights.

2) Reilly & Lee published reprints and subsequent editions from 1919 until the mid-1930s, when the internal color plates were replaced with black and white illustrations. Therefore, if the books do not contain internal color plates, they are newer than 1935.

3) In the 1960s, the color covers with paste-on illustrations were replaced with white covers and stamped-on illustrations. These versions are very prolific and contain only the copyright dates, although they are actually 50 years newer.

4) Dover Publications issued paperback versions of the Oz series in the 1960s and 1980s.

5) William Morrow published editions in the 1980s.

6) Coles Publishing in Canada also produced some titles in the 1980s.

Modern editions usually contain new publication dates and are easier to recognize as new.

Multitudes of offshoots have also been produced in various sizes and titles, too many to mention here. These include editions by W.W. Denslow (with no mention of Frank Baum), versions written by other authors after Baum’s death, junior condensed versions, boxed sets, small-size stories in a 1913 Little Wizard Series and 1932 Jell-O booklets, among many others.

The best guide for dating and identifying all early editions of Oz books is Bibliographia Oziana by Douglas Greene and Peter Hanff, published by the International Wizard of Oz Club. It contains all of the textual, style, illustrative, advertising and thickness points which differentiate the various versions and explains the printing history of each book. It also includes photographs of the books’ covers.

Edward Stratemeyer (1862 – 1930) created a literary syndicate in the early 1900s which was responsible for the publication of thousands of juvenile series books. These included the Rover Boys, Bobbsey Twins, Tom Swift, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Dana Girls, Honey Bunch, Bomba the Jungle Boy, X Bar X Boys, Campfire Girls, Happy Hollisters and scores of others. Stratemeyer dreamed up series ideas and characters, created the story lines and then contracted with ghostwriters who wrote under various pseudonyms to flesh out the story details. Stratemeyer edited the manuscripts and had them printed by dozens of publishers (with the most common being Grosset and Dunlap). The syndicate continued to be run by Edward’s daughter and other partners until 1979, when Simon and Schuster took over publication rights and drastically changed the style and format of the books.

During the Stratemeyer Syndicate/Grosset and Dunlap publishing control of the Nancy Drew series, from 1930 to 1979, approximately one new title was produced every year (although 6 books were created in the first two years). Throughout these 49 years, the physical formats of the books were constantly updated with numerous changes, combinations and variants. Most of the other Syndicate books in production were kept in sync and went though similar style changes at the same time. Thus, the information presented here for Nancy Drew can be associated with similar changes to other Stratemeyer series books over the same time frame.

Early Nancy Drew books

The first six Nancy Drew books began as thick editions with blue or bluish-gray slick covers, each containing four finely detailed glossy illustrations. The end papers were blank and the simple title lettering was light orange. The dust jackets had an illustration only on the front, leaving wide, white spines to display on the shelf. The six books with blank end papers were produced only in 1930 and 1931 and are now highly collectible. (End papers are the pages that are pasted onto the insides of the front and back covers.)

With volume #7 in 1932, a garish orange silhouette of Nancy was embossed on the book cover and the end papers were changed to depict vivid orange silhouettes. Due to production costs, three glossy internals were eliminated in 1937, leaving only a glossy frontispiece. And in 1941 (volume #18), a blue silhouette of Nancy was added to the white dust jacket spine. Around 1943 (volume #20), the wonderful, high-resolution glossy frontispiece was replaced with a plain and simple line drawing on regular paper. Also that year, the books gradually started to become thinner as the thread count in the paper was continually reduced.

A dramatic change occurred with volume #23 in 1946. The white spine dust jackets changed to the wraparound style, where the cover art continued onto the spine. The orange silhouette end papers changed to dark blue. The silhouette on the book cover also changed to dark blue (thus eliminating all orange). The cover stock remained slick.

The silhouette spine symbol on the dust jacket remained for only four more volumes, and then was changed to a circular color portrait, which gradually became smaller over the years. In 1947 and 1948, perhaps to advertise another popular series, random volumes contained marvelous maroon Dana Girls end papers, which were quite a big change from the previous orange and blue silhouettes. These very rare volumes are very hard to find and are also highly collectible.

Dust jacket style changes

In 1950, most of the older volumes also transformed to the wraparound dust jacket style and began to use updated dust jacket art by a new illustrator. (Volumes #12-22 continued to be produced only with white spine dust jackets – although they were issued in much thinner formats and now had new end papers and new cover art.)

Beginning with volume #30 in 1953, the book’s cover style changed from a slick blue to a blue cloth tweed (but retained the dark blue lettering and silhouette), and this format eventually became the most common. For a brief period from 1953 to 1958 (first introduced in volumes #30 – 35), the end papers depicted Nancy peering from behind a tree, watching a mysterious man digging in the night. These end papers, dubbed “digger ends” by Nancy collectors, are often sought specifically for this format. Starting in 1959, the well-known multi-scene end papers were adopted and used in various styles until 1979 (volume #56). The white oval cameo end papers were a later offshoot of the Simon and Schuster reprints.

The last volume to contain a dust jacket was volume #38, The Mystery of the Fire Dragon, and it was only produced in this format for one year in 1961 (in 3 editions). Therefore it is a rare find. In 1962, the formats changed to the cheaper, yellow spine picture covers. Also, the text was revised and updated and the page count was drastically reduced. The books were never to be the same again.

Nancy Drew reprints continue

Because of their popularity, all the old titles continue to be reprinted, over and over again, often several times a year, in the latest style. Thus, the oldest books appear in virtually every format. (Volume #1, The Secret of the Old Clock, has well over 100 separate editions by Grosset and Dunlap alone.) However, whenever a new format was introduced, the older one was usually discontinued, so the oldest formats are naturally the hardest to find.

As mentioned earlier, the changes to the Nancy Drew series happened in parallel with similar changes to other series. When Nancy Drew cover stock switched to blue tweed, for example, The Hardy Boys switched to tan tweed and Dana Girls switched to green tweed. All the major series adopted the wraparound dust jacket in about the same time period and all went to the picture cover format in the early 1960’s (at the same time that the text was reduced and revamped).

Grosset and Dunlap did not put a publishing date in their books, retaining only an outdated copyright date. Therefore, understanding the style changes can help date the books. As another reference point, paper quality was poor for brief periods in the 1940s, causing darkened and more brittle pages. (This is sometimes called “war paper”, as its poor quality was tied to the rationing of better goods during World War II.)

Because each Grosset and Dunlap book listed all the books in that series, it is often assumed that a first edition can be identified if the book list goes only to the current subject title (often described as “lists to self”), and not beyond. However, Grosset and Dunlap sometimes produced as many as five different editions of a book in a single year (before the next title was printed). Furthermore, the listings inside the book lagged well behind the listings on the dust jacket flaps, so it is very risky to make a first edition assumption with a book lacking a dust jacket. The only sure way to identify a first is by the changes in advertising on the dust jacket (particularly when listing other series) and by comparing points using reputable guides.

A very good source for identifying the various editions of Nancy Drew books is Farah’s Guide by David Farah.

Let’s start with the absolute basics: all serious collectors desire items that are as near perfect as possible, and the closer to perfect an item is, the higher the price it can command.

On the other hand, movie paper in all conditions sells. Internet auctions of movie paper routinely sell (clearly labeled) lesser condition items with fading, tears, foxing, water stains, pin holes and a variety of other defects. Many of the worst defects on movie posters, lobby cards, inserts, and stills are along the edges where they can be hidden by mats or frames if desired primarily as a display item.Some dealers even note in their ads that they buy movie paper in “any condition.”

Factors affecting movie paper prices

It is important to note that factors other than condition affect movie paper prices. Many films were reissued with new art over the years. A serious collector checks to make sure whether the art is from the first run or a reissue.

Reissue movie paper may still bring considerable prices for very popular films. The easiest way to tell a reissue from an original is by comparing the copyright date of the paper to the initial release date. We’ll cover that in more detail in another paper.

Reproductions are usually worthless as collector’s items, although they may dress up a wall display of movie art.

The older movie paper is, the more you should expect some defects, particularly with photographs.

Common movie paper defects

Here’s a list of common movie paper defects:

Bleed-throughs – Writing, stamps, tape, stains or other marks on the back of the paper visible on the front. Such marks on borders do not affect value so much as those on prominent parts of the item.

Creases – Lines from folding, crumpling, or crimping the item. Their affect on value depends on how many creases exist and where they are. Creases, which may be deep enough to damage the item enough to crack through the color, leaving a white space, should not be confused with wrinkles, which are surface defects.

Fading – Loss of color and detail caused by exposure to sunlight or age leades to considerable loss of value in movie paper. It is less of a problem on the edges than on principal artwork.

Pin holes, drill holes, staple holes – All holes in movie paper affect its value, but those on edges and not torn generally won’t lower value nearly as much as those more visible. Drill holes were used to “mark” posters once used on building walls by placing them on a stack and drilling a hole top center.

Writing marks – Many exhibitors marked up movie paper for a variety of reasons, but not a few bored movie staffers handling the art occasionally doodled mustaches on stars, among other defacements. Obviously, the extent and type of marking will seriously affect a poster’s value. Actual marks off the art by exhibitors (With Bugs Bunny Cartoon Saturday!) bother some collectors less.

Movie paper refers to cinema promotional material printed on paper. Movie display art also appeared on more durable card stock (LobX cards, half sheets, and insert cards, for instance).

Common popular sizes (in inches) include the following:

One sheet:

27” X 41” before the 1980s, thereafter, 27” X 40”

This is one of the most popular sizes of movie paper collected. They were stored folded before the 1980s, sometimes rolled thereafter.

Half sheets:

22” X 27” or 22” X 28”

Half sheets, no longer made, were a staple of movie advertising through the 1950s. They are popular with collectors because they’re easy to frame and display. Their card stock means they’re frequently in better condition than their one-sheet counterparts and they were generally stored flat, so they’re in better condition than many items from the same film printed on paper. They often appeared in one display window above several lobby cards.

LobX cards:

11” X 14” for the standard size, they also come in mini (8” X 10” or 8” X 11”) or Jumbo sized, 14” X 17”

Lobby cards are among the most collectible of movie posters. Their card stock means they’re better preserved than most paper items. Title cards, often with the same art that is also on a half sheet or one-sheet, are the most popular.

Lobby cards are easy to frame and display. The Standard size came in sets of eight. Sometimes a title card will sell for more than all the other cards in a set. Sets frequently show up in auctions. Many single cards are offered on eBay.

Insert Cards:

14” X 36” insert cards, easy to frame and sharing the better-preserved quality of card stock, remain popular, even though they have not been made for many years.

Insert cards fit those long, thin display windows common to movie theatres in the pre-measles era.

Glossy still photographs:

8” X 10” glossy still photographs—originals—come in black and white and color, but most, until very recently, came in black and whites (as many as 25 per movie) and were aimed at daily newspapers, weekly entertainment paper, and other media primarily printed in black and white.

Color slides frequently accompanied movie press kits more recently, along with black and white stills and the press information packets.

Window Cards:

22” X 28” vertical

14” X 28” standard

10” X 18” mini

Window cards sat in store display windows everywhere from barbershops to five and dimes at one time.

Frequently, those actually used, show fading from such window display.

They are on card stock and condition plays a role in their value, but they usually sell for much less than other movie display items.

Heralds:

5” X 7”
6” X 9”

Heralds often appeared two to a page in newspapers. Today, newspaper-page sized ads appear in special sections of major papers such as the New York Times, but heralds as such have mostly disappeared.

Heralds were produced in huge numbers. Some people actually focus on them, but they are on paper, often newsprint. They are not as valuable as other movie display art, but popular movie titles sell regularly in auctions.

Other sizes:

Subway:

45” X 59” horizontal; 30” X 45” vertical

Tough to display and not offered that often, these are the large posters often displayed in subways, transit malls and other highly trafficked areas.

Three sheets:

41” X 81”

Three sheets, first used in vaudeville and by circuses, usually came in two or three pieces cut horizontally. Their size makes them tougher to display. They’re printed on paper. They were originally three times the size of one-sheets, hence the name. There are other three-sheet sizes. Disney issued some at 41” X 78” for instance. Three sheets were common until the 1980s. Some collectors like the fact that these posters were printed in fewer numbers than more standard sizes, and are thus more rare.

Six sheet:

81” X 81”

The six-sheet is quite a poster, dominating if you display them. Fewer of them were made, which increases their attractiveness to some. Stored folded, they sometimes came in four pieces.

Other common movie paper collectibles include press kits, which usually include photos in various forms and the press information. These come in many forms, from a folder to a CD.

Press books were exhibitor’s manuals that included background information and feature stories about a film with stills, usually black and white, that newspapers or magazines could cut out and paste directly into a page layout.

They also include posters available, other promotional items and ideas. These remain relatively inexpensive. I bought one from the 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers for $20.

Popular foreign sizes:

British Quad:

30” X 40”

The British Quad poster’s dramatic size appeals to many collectors and they generally draw good prices for desirable titles. Quads are the most popular British poster size.

Australian Daybill

13”X30” Australian Daybills were produced in low numbers and are fairly rare. They frequently have better art work than other movie paper. They’re a good buy if you can find them.

Italian one-sheet, or Foglio

28”X39” Always issued folded.

Italian Photobusta

14” X 20” through the 1950s, then 20” X 28”

These are similar to lobby card sets, often using the same artwork as lobby card and stills.

We’ll cover less popular, odd sizes, other foreign sizes, and unusual items such as standees and billboard sizes in another article.

As an Appraiser one here’s some pretty amazing stories about items from their owners, like great- great-great Uncle Jack’s sword from Bunker Hill, meat platters that were taken into Kentucky by Daniel Boone and copies of the Constitution found in an old trunk.

Sad to say though, 99 times out of a 100 the “Bunker Hil” sword is from Portugal, the meat platter was made 90 years after Boone shot his last bear, and the long lost copy of Constitution came in a soap box. This might seem discouraging to most, seeing all these relics debunked, but every now and again the real thing shows up.

The funny thing is that it’s not the family relic that turns out to be the most valuable item when doing a house call, in fact it is nearly always some item laying about unnoticed. This is the fun part of it all, is explaining to the home owner that the bowl the dog is eating out of is 19th Century Lambeth Art Pottery or the couch throw the cat is sleeping on is a Indian saddle blanket.