vintage posters

Rare Houdini Poster Up For Auction

Filed under: Auctions

Vintage magic posters can be highly collectible and of course, the most famous musician, Houdini, often brings in the biggest returns. A rare Houdini poster, which is one of only five such posters known to exist, is going up for sale at a Potter & Potter Auctions in Chicago on March 26. The poster is one of more than 100 rare and valuable vintage magic posters which were discovered in a suburban Chicago home last year. Many of the poster swere purchased in the 1970s when they could still be bought fairly inexpensively.

The Houdini poster shows the legendary magician in handcuffs in front of a judge and jury in Germany. It represents a famous case in 1902 when Houdini was called a fraud by a German police officer. He sued for slander and won. Being a savvy self-promoter, he created the poster to dramatize the event and add to his fame. It is estimated at $15,000-$20,000. Also featured is a rare rare eight-sheet (7 feet x 9 feet) billboard advertising The Great Nicola. The huge poster is estimated at $2,500-$3,500. Many other posters in the sale can be had for just several hundred dollars. For more details visit www.potterauctions.com.

[via Auction Central News]

Tags: houdini, posters, vintage posters

Swann Galleries Vintage Posters Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

Swann Galleries has announced that its average annual summer auction of Vintage Posters will be held on August 4 in New York City. The auction offers fine selections of summer resort and beach posters, World War I and II and other propaganda posters and Mather Work Incentive posters. There are also posters advertising tourism to Bermuda, ocean liner and airline posters, Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company posters and some lovely Art Deco works.

Most of the works are estimated to sell for several hundred to a few thousand dollars making them an affordable way to invest in artwork. The posters are also an interesting anthropological study giving clues into the concerns and delights of past generations. The Mather Work posters Incentive were created in Chicago in the late 1920s to boost employee productivity and safety. Some of the summer resort images featuring idyllic seaside scenes would be great artwork for a beach house or a summer home. The posters will be on public exhibition at Swann Galleries starting July 30 and an illustrated auction catalogue is available for $35. Shown at right is N.C. Wyeth's work for the Pennsylvania Rail Road, circa 1929. It is estimated to sell for $1,500-2,000.

Tags: art, collectibles, collecting, collection, posters, swann galleries, vintage posters, vintage travel posters