René Vincent "Porto Ramos-Pinto" Poster, ca. 1920
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GUEST:
I purchased it in 1972 at a flea market in Paris. I worked for Pan Am at the time as a flight attendant, and I would go over about four times a month, and I started collecting the posters. I could, uh, roll them up and carry them on the plane in a tube. They were easy to transport. And on one of the trips, I saw this poster, and it was a lot smaller than the other ones I had been buying. But the dealer assured me that it was a genuine vintage poster. About 15 years ago, I started seeing a lot of these images on posters in stores for, like, $20, and they were really big. And that concerned me.
APPRAISER:
And at the flea market, how much did you pay for it?
GUEST:
$30. Which at the time, in '72, was a lot.
APPRAISER:
It's this wonderfully romantic, Valentine's-y image...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...with little Cupid with his bow holding up a glass of port for these two archly Art Deco lovers, who are, they're trying to kiss, and Cupid's, like, "No, you've got to get drunk first." It's compelling and so well-composed, too, how our, our attention is drawn right to the center of the image. It's a masterpiece of graphic design. It's interesting that you've seen bigger copies.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And you worried that the small one might be a reproduction.
GUEST:
Right, or might devaluate it because of that.
APPRAISER:
In fact, it's the absolute opposite. The, this was only ever done in a small format, and all of the bigger ones...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm. .
APPRAISER:
..are reproductions.
GUEST:
Ah-hah.
APPRAISER:
And so this is an original.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
It dates to the 1920s.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
It's by René Vincent, who was one of the great Art Deco poster artists of the era. He did a lot of advertisements for Peugeot.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
And for different department stores.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
This one is one of his best-known images, specifically because they printed so many copies of the poster. Because it was small...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...not only was it easy for you to carry on a plane, but they could print a lot, and they could store a lot.
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
So a lot of the originals have survived.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
But at its high-water mark, this piece has sold for as much as $1,600 at auction.
GUEST:
Hmm, really, wow.
APPRAISER:
I would say, in the current climate, a more realistic auction estimate would be between $800 and $1,200.
GUEST:
Wow, okay, so, so, it is real.
APPRAISER:
So, it is real, it's wonderful.
GUEST:
Hmm.
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