Les Maîtres de l'Affiche Collection
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GUEST:
I got these posters about almost 20 years ago, from an auction in Paris. A friend of mine is an art dealer there, and I told him that if he ever saw them to please let me know. And within a few weeks, actually, they came up to auction, and he called me and said, do I want to bid, and I did. And I got it. And I have the entire collection.
APPRAISER:
And how much did you spend for them?
GUEST:
I spent $8,000.
APPRAISER:
And how many are in the entire set?
GUEST:
256.
APPRAISER:
Now, you realize, these aren't posters.
GUEST:
No, they're the Maîtres de l'Affiche, which is the collectors' size of the posters that were originally put up on the billboard. But so many people enjoyed them, that they started ripping them off the billboards, and they decided to make a collectors' edition for a period of about five years.
APPRAISER:
Exactly right, and in an analogy, they're like trading cards, where the actual posters were so big, and they had to be issued in a smaller, more easily handled size. Now, originally, these posters were mailed out by subscription, and they all came in one of these envelopes on a monthly basis, sort of like trading card of the month. And the way you can tell that they're all part of the Maîtres de l'Affiche, the "Master of the Poster" series, is that they all... if you can see it, it's a very faint embossed stamp. And every single one of them will have that embossed stamp, and that will tell you that it's part of the series.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
Now, the series of 256 represents many, many different artists, and I know you have all 256, and I've selected just a few of them to show everybody here. There are some works by Toulouse-Lautrec. There are some works by Alphonse Mucha. There're some works by Jules Chéret, and a poster by Steinlein. Now, these are definitely the highlights. The question that I think you have for me is, how much are these things worth?
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
I mean, they are reproductions. And generally, we're trained to think that reproductions are not very good. They tend to be worth not a whole lot compared to the original. Well, this is something a little bit different. These reproductions are actively sought out by collectors and by dealers, and everybody really likes to have them because they were printed between about 1896 and 1900. So although they're reproductions and miniaturizations of the original, they're of the same era. So now, in 1980, you paid $8,000.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
Do you have any idea what these are worth now?
GUEST:
No, that's why I came with them, because I honestly don't, and it's very difficult to find anyone who is willing to tell me a price.
APPRAISER:
Well, I can tell you this is the most pristine collection of these Maîtres de l'Affiche that I have ever seen. Each one comes with an original piece of wax paper. You've preserved them perfectly. They're in mint condition. You have all of the original portfolio sleeves. You even have the original envelopes that were mailed to the subscribers every month. At auction, a set in less good condition than this would sell for $40,000, $45,000.
GUEST:
Oh, my God.
APPRIASER: It's great to see it. It brightens up the entire room.
GUEST:
(laughs) This is great news!
Appraisal Details
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
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