Bloomsbury's Vintage and Modern Posters sale promises to not only offer decorative beauty, but a solid financial asset.
 United States to Europe |
The vintage poster market has well maintained its value, even in a time of volatile markets both in the worlds of finance and fine arts - and the posters in this November 12 sale are prime representatives of a viable alternative investment, according to the New York-based auctioneers.
As posters became a less popular form of advertising after the advent of film and radio in the 1920s, posters post-dating this have become rare. The Fall Bloomsbury sale features a plethora of posters from the 1930s onward.
A unique highlight in the sale is a collection of eight posters promoting travel to Bermuda. Grace Line, a Furness Cruises division and the Island of Bermuda brought on artists to create these spectacular, and now, nostalgic images from the 1930s through the 1960s.
Vintage posters promoting Bermuda are a rare collector's item in the poster market, and this group of eight features multiple exceptionally rare posters from the 1930s.
 Toulousse L'Autrec's D'Affiches Artistiques |
Other notable collectors' items for sale are a poster depicting a stylised airplane emerging through French-shaped clouds. The advertisement for Air France by Francois Charles Cachoud "Le Mont Blanc", dated 1900, is a lithograph in color estimated at $600-1,000.
Travel posters by KLM, Pan American, and several other airlines are also included in the sale. Alongside these items will be posters by Cunard and Pacific Lines representing a bygone form of travel, trans-oceanic cruising.
 T.A. Mitchell's Royal, 1930 |
Meanwhile, the vintage automobile posters section will illustrate the evolution of the car over the last 100 years with posters depicting early examples of Peugeot, Clement, de Dion-Bouton, and Michelin Tires amongst other brands.
A highlight in the travel by locomotive section is a lithograph in color showing the New York Central System1946, estimated at $1,000-1,500.
Other sale highlights will include the top lot by Toulousse L'Autrec, a lithograph in colours dated 1896, "D'Affiches Artistiques" (estimated at $30,000-35,000) and a 1894 lithograph in colour, Jules Cheret's "Palais de Glace" ($8,000-12,000).
The auction starts on Thursday, November 12 at 2pm at Bloomsbury, New York. An exhibition of the posters will be held from Saturday November 7-12.
