At 06:00 PM 7/17/2010, Bruce Hershenson wrote:
Isn't that sometimes like asking to let foxes into the henhouse so
they can help them find their feed?
No Bruce, it isn't even the same.
look, restoration on movie posters was never really commonplace
until Christies and Sotheby's started doing auctions. On one side, as
the Christies auction maker, you are partially responsible for
linenbacking & restoration taking a greater hold on the hobby. I
understand the part of "the bidders wanted to see nice posters" so
you had to go with the flow.
None the less, restoration is here to stay, so what needs to be done
is the same thing I used to get when I would have someone restore a
painting - a certificate explaining what had been done to the item to
bring it back to it's prior state.
Now there is an argument that a restored poster is not exactly in
it's prior state, but if you have a Frankenstein 1sheet, and it has
large holes, tears and the like - most people will want this restored.
as a former art dealer and art student, it is generally easy for me
to discover what has been done to a poster that has been restored
because I can see paint that others may not. This is not everyone's
situation. Many people cannot tell restoration of any kind when done
well, but they would still like to know what restoration an item has
and so a certificate is the way to go for full disclosure. The
restorer should be able to say "poster was bathed in a solution to
arrest acidity, and for cleaning. Top left corner 2"x4" was replaced
and image area has been inpainted to match the original image. Tears
along the right border and into the image area were sealed and some
light painting. All paints used were watercolor. Poster was backed
onto Japanese rice paper and mounted to linen"
What happens though is many restorers do not enclose such
certificates because they're afraid people will learn and start doing
their own work (a stupid belief), or they don't want to take the 15
minutes to type out the sheet.
But to be sure, while I prefer un-backed posters, sometimes you just
can't help it and have to go that way.
I don't think Heritage does anything wrong in getting lots of posters
backed & restored as long as any restoration is noted, or as long as
they accept returns from bidders. Both of which I believe they do and
they actually give more detailed info in their auctions on
restoration than you do ("poster was backed well" or "restoration was
amateurish and can be seen from several feet away" etc)
many people will not buy low condition posters, but will happily buy
the same poster restored.. That's life. as long as full disclosure is
adhered to, I see nothing wrong with it
Rich
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