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Vintage Travel Posters

Relive the golden age of travel

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Universally desired for their stunning, colorful graphics and romanticized views of enticing and exotic destinations, vintage travel posters seem to whisper to the viewer a phrase scrawled on many a postcard: "Having a wonderful time -- wish you were here."

In their day, these posters encouraged a feeling of wanderlust in a growing upper middle class, harkening them to far-off places that many had read about but few had ever seen. Today, these posters remind us of an era when travel was at its most glamorous. During the last half of the 19th century and the first part of the 20th century, advances in modern modes of transportation -- trains, ocean liners, and, finally, airplanes -- made travel to distant places less risky, more comfortable, and widely accessible. Tourism became big business, and thus was sparked a golden age of travel that lasted until the onset of World War II.

At the same time, advancements in printing -- namely the increasing availability of color lithography -- allowed for the mass production of color advertisements. Prior to this, advertising was limited to black-and-white text and the occasional graphic. Mass-produced color posters first appeared as advertisements on billboards and buildings in France in the third quarter of the 19th century.

Unlike with fine art, it's possible to acquire very good examples of these posters for modest prices. Simpler pieces start in the low hundreds, while very fine examples can fetch several thousand dollars.

"The first rule of thumb is to buy what you like," notes Skinner senior appraiser and poster enthusiast Kerry Shrives. "From there, value is determined based on the name of the artist, the quality and subject matter of the image, the printing technique used, rarity of the image, and condition."

Most posters were intended for short-time use and, as such, were printed on cheap wood-pulp paper. Given this, you can expect a certain amount of aging to have occurred, but generally speaking, the paper should be in good condition without rips, tears, soil, or staining. Linen backing is acceptable. Colors should still appear vibrant, with little apparent muting or fading.

Although fakes are not common in the poster world, reproductions are, so if the price of a poster seems too good to be true, it probably is. Kerry's best advice for buying the real thing is to get familiar with the appearance of old paper and how the text looks on these pieces. "If the fine print isn't clear, it's probably a reproduction," she says.

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