The interesting thing about all of this is that the originality of the poster
has been questioned/identified by people who have not actually handled or
viewed the poster or needed to use a microscope.
Regards
John
Website: www.moviemem.com
JOHN REID VINTAGE MOVIE MEMORABILIA
PO Box 92
Palm Beach
Qld 4221
Australia
----- Original Message -----
From: James Richard
To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 10:16 AM
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Vintage Poster Authentication
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.
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.
