Featured Victory Bonds poster

Today I found this original Canadian Victory Bonds poster from the First World War. I love the artwork, with its vibrant colours but, sadly, the poster is in rough condition, as you can see. Have any of you had a poster or other paper item professionally restored? I’m considering having it done with this poster, though I’m sure it would be quite expensive. Anyway, I’d love to hear about any experiences you may have had with paper conservators.

The poster I found:


How it probably looked new:

 

I don't know, but I suspect the cost of having that restored would be close to the cost of finding one that didn't need it. Might be manageable if you are thinking stabilization rather than restoration.

Here's some info on the poster:
https://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/propaganda/poster6_e.html

https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/war-art-in-canada/artist-compendium/K/

I like that design, wouldn't have guessed it was 1917. Haven't specifically searched, but I suspect it's out there in repro.

 

Thanks! I have no idea what this poster may be worth as I haven’t found an example of one having sold. This makes me think it may be pretty rare. Maybe I’ll get a quote for the required work from a paper conservator, and go from there.

 

Beautiful piece of graphic design.
As MOS said getting it stabilized,mounted & having a very skilled artist do all the 'in painting' and recreating the missing portions from scratch might be quite expensive.
If you just want to get it mounted/stabilized that would be a lot cheaper than 'patching' all the holes.

 

Thank you for your reply, Bosko69. I’ve found a local paper conservator who’s very highly-rated, and have sent her photos of the poster and asked for a rough estimate of how much restoration would cost. When I receive a reply, I’ll let everybody know what she said.

 

Great-sounds interesting.

 

Looks like full restoration will cost about $1000 Canadian. I was honestly expecting worse! Now, to decide whether to proceed or not…

 

If you do, we'll certainly want to see the result. Maybe contact a Canadian art auction house or dealer and see if they have an opinion as to auction value for the poster in good shape.

Does @komokwa know of a contact?

 

I used to know of a guy in Toronto....for restoring art prints ... S. Poulin

 

Thanks - I’ll look him up!

 

Steve..

 

Thanks, I will try to get an estimate as you suggest. I’ve seen some Canadian posters from WW1 sell for thousands of dollars, but have no idea if this a valuable one.

 

Ditto-Be good to find a comp on this particular artist,most precisely for a professionally restored piece (which of course will be different from an untouched pristine piece).

 

worthpoint has OPs poster as having sold for $228 in 2016. It was not in perfect condition just some waviness I'd say very good condition at the least. It was probably sold at auction based on the wording in the listing. Also two other Keelor WW I posters selling for $257 and $281 both in 2013. One sold at auction the other one was definitely in fragile condition, neither one was backed or framed so that does detract from the price:

https://www.worthpoint.com/inventory/search?query=Arthur+Keelor&categories=

Some observations:

The war poster market is pretty weak in general maybe people that used to buy this stuff have gotten older but the top prices I see in worthpoint are more optimistic than realistic.

Canadian war posters dont seem to do well here in the US for whatever reason. Maybe its a combination of weak market and disinterest in Canada. OTOH canadian RR posters and tourism posters get top dollar.

Its important to note that two of the above sold at auction and its more likely those prices represent more of a wholesale price than a retail price. You can never be sure but thats my guess because the market is weak no one is fighting for these. Also none of those were linen backed or even framed two of them seem fragile so I can see one of Keelors being linen backed and in good shape going for double those prices.

The artwork is outstanding! Especially OP's poster. Wow.

 

pictures of the other two posters. Wow!

 

Thanks for all the info you provided, and the images of the other two Keelor posters. I love his style!