once framed. In restoring vintage posters, the curator’s goal is to ensure that
whatever work is done to the poster will not be damaging or irreversible in any
way. Many things can damage the appearance of a poster including tape, stains,
watermarks, and dirt. These can all be easily repaired, however, so that the
poster can be restored to very close to its original appearance.
Extant vintage prints made using stone lithography are highly valuable. But
rarity is difficult to determine because the number of prints made from a single
design is unknown. Typical runs were from 250 to 3,000 posters and the posters
actually pasted to buildings and billboards rarely survived. The posters that have
survived until today are copies that were artists’ own prints, collectors’ prints,
and leftovers found in printing warehouses. Vintage posters are rated by curators
on a scale from A to D based on their condition, but even lower-rated posters,
with a rating such as C or D, can still have significant value. Some of the most
popular poster subjects for collectors are ocean liners, automobiles, and skiing.