Randall,
This info on how to use a microscope is very valuable and, heck, it's
just interesting stuff to know even if one is not trying to authenticate
a poster. But...
...that is exactly what John Davis of Poster Mountain did do with the
Dracula poster -- examine it under the microscope. And he what he saw
lead him to believe it was genuine because it "looked like old printing
consistent" with the 1930s. I think you and he are both missing that the
forgers have figured out that someone might look at their fakes under
the microscope and so they are getting very high resolution photos/scans
which contain exactly that kind of dot and litho-line detail, and
somehow able to duplicate those effects when creating the fake image --
or, in the case of the Dracula, possibly taking an S2art.com print,
distressing it and linen-backing it. Since S2 has all these old presses
they use to make their pricey reproductions, their repros apparently
will look exactly right under a microscope. Which is very cool in one
way and a big problem in another when it comes to linen-backed posters.
I'm certainly no expert on this sort of thing, but from what I've heard
-- and what happened with the Dracula poster -- I think the microscope
can help, but that it can't be relied upon anymore as the last word. My
guess is that long-term experience applied to evaluating the look and
feel and smell of the old paper is the best approach -- of course, that
only works with non-linen-backed posters. And doesn't work with window
cards at all, since apparently it has been common practice for a long
time now for restorers to replace the card stock backing on genuine
window cards as part of the "restoration".
Hey, they can train dogs to detect the slightest whiffs of drugs and
other chemicals even if it they sealed in tight packages and in a
suitcase. Perhaps dogs, with their incredibly sensitive sense of smell,
could be trained to identify if paper were old or new, even if it has
been deacidified and linen-backed?
-- JR
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
