railway poster Archives - Page 16 of 16

The biggest poster auction ever. Perhaps.

auctions

As mentioned below, the Morphets sale last month was a one-off spectacular the likes of which may not be seen again for some time.

This was certainly true in the Crownfolio household, where the event involved three computers (two downstairs for watching while child-minding and cooking, one upstairs for actually placing bids) and an entire day spent in front of screens watching one poster after another reach what seemed to be eye-watering prices. I don’t think my nerves can stand anything like that again for some time to come.

Morphets themselves are trumpeting it as “The biggest and most important sale of posters that has ever been held…” But was it really?

It certainly wasn’t the biggest in terms of turnover. The sale realised £410,000, which Christies, and I am sure many other auctioneers, have definitely surpassed before.

Then what about the prices? I for one had hoped that a combination of the recession and the sheer quantity of posters on offer all at once would mean that on the whole prices might be low (subtext, and we could pick up a bargain or two). But as poster after poster flashed past, the overwhelming impression was of new highs being reached with almost every lot going for at least a hundred, sometimes several hundred pounds over its estimate.

£400

Now, however, in the cold light of day, the prices don’t seem to have been breaking records, more at the low end of average. (Disclaimer: I’ve only checked the items I was interested in, along with a few star lots – if other things did perform well, please do let me know!) But what did make the achieved prices seem dramatic were the surprisingly low estimates. Perhaps they had also thought that the recession would have left everyone too broke to buy so many posters.

So sale volume, good but not exceptional, prices good too – but so far no cigar. And probably not the greatest poster auction ever held.

But what was genuinely extraordinary was having so many railway posters being sold in one place. Whereas your average Christies or Onslows sale might have twenty, thirty, perhaps a few more in amongst the Mucha and friends, here that’s all there was: different periods, different styles and different destinations all the way from the first lot to number 593 ten hours later. So yes, if you like railway posters, it was probably about as big as it’s ever going to get.

But as we slowly worked our way through every region of Britain and Ireland, I gradually came to realise one thing. Which is that I don’t really like many railway posters very much. And the more I saw of them, the less I liked them. I’ll try and explain why in my next post.

What’s wrong with this picture?

auctions

At some point I need to write properly about the giant Morphets poster auction, even though it had been and gone before I got this blog going. The sale was so big and so insane, and the prices so stratospheric, that it really can’t be ignored*, but to be honest I still haven’t quite got my head round it yet. So let’s start with something simple. This lovely poster.

Now I love this. It’s an original architect’s drawing of one of the great buildings of the post-war reconstruction, and the typography is smart and of the period too. If you showed it to an architect or a design historian (or just someone who is a fan of fifties graphics and wants something good – if rather large – to hang on their wall), they’d fall over themselves to buy one. Or so you’d think.

Because in fact it’s not worth very much at all. There were three of these on sale at the Morphets auction, all A condition. One went for £140, one for £75, and the third didn’t sell at all. And this in an auction where pretty much everything else made mincemeat of the estimates.

So what’s the problem? Is it just that railway poster collectors (whoever they are) are traditional folks, who like pictures of countryside, historic buildings and of course trains on their walls? Am I actually one of only about twelve people in the country who like 50s graphics. Or is there something else very wrong with it that I can’t see? Any thoughts or answers very welcome, because I certainly don’t know.

Oh, and I didn’t buy one because we’ve got one already. Bought for £100 a few years ago, and it felt like a bargain. Clearly I was wrong.

*For those of you whom it did pass by, there were almost six hundred railway posters for sale, the vast majority in boxfresh condition, and many of which I’d certainly never seen before. But it was the sheer volume of stuff which was overwhelming. Want a poster of Somerset? That’s fine, there’s about twenty five to choose from. Devon? Oh, just another thirty or so. And so it went on. Perhaps I’ll write about it properly next time.