|
Hi again JR
I once had a Roaring Twenties lobby card that had
the stamps of a number of well known dealers on the back, some had been blacked
out. It had obviously been sold and resold a number of times over the years. The
trouble with placing markings that you can see on the back is that they can
easily be blacked out or changed so that they are no longer recognizable. Some
collectors of fine art use the invisible mark as a tool in identifying
the artwork without alerting the thieves. One of the posters that was
stolen from Dominique was, apparently, the only known copy. If an invisible mark
had been placed on the back or even the front of the poster then it could be
challenged if it ever surfaced again. Of course if the poster did happen to
appear for sale and you accused the seller you would be risking the very real
chance that the item that was being sold was actually another copy and not the
stolen poster.
A collector in Australia told me recently that he
had about 50 vintage posters stolen a few years ago. They were all daybills and
I have never seen or heard of copies of the majority of them. They may well be
"only known copies". He said that he always suspected another collector/dealer
who had visited his house on a number of occasions and he now says that he is
certain that this person stole them. He has actually named the collector/dealer
but cannot prove his claim because, obviously, there could be more copies out
there. Its a bit late now, but perhaps if he had made an invisible mark of
some sort on them he could have taken his claim a little further.
It is always very sad to hear that someone has had
their posters stolen and I think anything that might detract thieves or catch
them out is worth a try.
Does anyone else have any thoughts on
this?
Regards
John
JOHN REID VINTAGE MOVIE MEMORABILIA PO Box 92 Palm Beach Qld
4221 Australia WEBSITE: www.moviemem.com
eBay Userid: johnwr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 9:31
AM
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Blasphemy: STOLEN
POSTERS and linenbackers
First, my apologies to Dominique, whom I did not know was a man, having
never met him or dealt with him. You learn something new every day.
As for my blasphemy, here it is: I am picking up on John Reid's idea of
marking posters with an invisible "art marker" and asking: Why go
with invisible? Why not mark -- carefully and in small letters -- on the
back of your valuable posters with ball-point pen a date and a number you make
up (but record in a separate book somewhere for tracking and insurance
purposes)?
Why wait until a poster is linenbacked to put an identifying mark on
the back of the linen.? Why not mark all of your valuable posters?
Blasphemy, right? Well, think about it: A lot of posters already have
markings on the back... some stamped on by NSS, some scrawled on by the
theaters that used the posters and still other from people who handled the
poster over the years. Unless these markings bleed through to the front they
generally are not considered to be condition flaws and often are not even
mentioned in the condition description when a poster is auctioned. They are
considered "normal". So, I don't see how having a small identification number,
date or whatever on the back, in pen, probably in the same area where the NSS
number appears on the front, would be considered "damaging" to the poster as
far as condition goes.
I think it's a good idea, but I don't really expect people to do this.
The very idea of deliberately putting a mark on the back on one of their
precious posters probably gives most the shakes. But I can't see as it would
be that big a deal -- particularly if "everyone" started doing it. Then it
would become an accepted thing and just considered "normal" for a poster to
have such an identifying mark on the back. Maybe you wouldn't want an owner's
signature, just a date and made-up number... but something unique to that
poster which would help in both provenance, ownership transfer and in
theft-prevention and resale (and also give the insurance company a bit more
for their policy listings).
While John's idea of the invisible marker is neat, I think a visible mark
would be much more useable and more of a theft deterrent / tracking
device.
-- JR
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2004
2:58
Subject: [MOPO] STOLEN POSTERS and
linenbackers
JR
I think it would be possible to leave an
identifying "signature" on the linen and it would certainly be a deterrent
but it would also be possible to leave a mark of some sort on the
actual poster that would be even more of a safeguard. It is
possible to do this without visibly detracting from the poster. There
are invisible markers that are used in the fine art world that can only be
viewed under a special light. This could be an expensive process but
probably worthwhile for a high value poster. The way things are at the
moment, you can never be 100% certain of the history of a poster - if there
are suspicions that it has been stolen, there will always be the excuse that
it is another copy, even when it has been promoted as the "only known copy".
Of course, this would be still open to abuse
but it is certainly worth consideration.
Regards
John
JOHN REID VINTAGE MOVIE MEMORABILIA PO Box 92 Palm Beach Qld
4221 Australia WEBSITE: www.moviemem.com
eBay Userid: johnwr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2004
5:24 PM
Subject: Re: [MOPO] STOLEN POSTERS
and linenbackers
John,
I've been thinking about this a bit more... with a signature on the
back of the linen and a date and number, it would be possible to set up a
website that was a "registry of stolen posters" -- or incorporate it
into an existing information center like LAMP --and thus have a place
where anyone could check to see if a poster they are being offered (either
for sale or for re-linenbacking or whatever) has been reported stolen.
Such a registry, in conjunction with linenbackers marking their work,
would render stolen movie posters much less "marketable"... perhaps more
recoverable by UPS / FEDEX investigators.. and might encourage the thieves
to offer them back to the owner for a small reward or something, rather
than risk trying to sell them on the open market and be identified. It
would definitely enhance the pedigree and provenance of any valuable
linenbacked poster had some identifying marks placed on it by the
linenbacker and if a potential buyer could easily "double-check" to see
that it is not appearing in any registry of stolen items.
-- JR
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, October 05, 2004
23:35
Subject: Re: [MOPO] STOLEN POSTERS
and linenbackers
Hi JR
My first reaction to your suggestion was
that the process is fully reversable and it would be easy for anyone to
reback a poster removing any evidence of who originally backed the
poster. However, that would mean sending the poster to a competant
restorer who may well be aware that the poster had been stolen so, your
idea has a great deal of merit and would certainly make if more
difficult for someone to dispose of a stolen poster, particuarly of high
value.
Regards
John
JOHN REID VINTAGE MOVIE MEMORABILIA PO Box 92 Palm Beach
Qld 4221 Australia WEBSITE: www.moviemem.com
eBay Userid: johnwr
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its
content.
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
|
