The email from the Swiss auction house Poster-Auctioneer announcing their latest auction has once again dropped into my mailbox. So I flicked through page after page of foreign posters, pretty sure that none of them would appear on the blog. Until I came to this Donald Brun and my resolution crumbled.
It’s the perfect mixture of sophisticated and daft, isn’t it. Clearly they are expecting quite a lot of people to think the same, because it has an estimate of 900 swiss francs, which is over £600. Never mind.
Once I’d given in to that, I thought I might as well include this poster too, mainly on the grounds that it’s a kind of style that really the British never even attempted, and so I do hanker after it a bit.
It’s by the rather brilliantly named Kurtz Helmut, and isn’t dated, although it doesn’t really need one, and it could be yours for in the region of 500 francs.
Elsewhere, there are some bits and bobs of Barbara Jones available on eBay should anyone be interested. Exhibit A is a handful of original drawings, as brought to my attention by James Manning. This one is the best, mainly because of the dog.
The better treasure, for me at least, is a copy of Design for Death, which is a wonderful book and definitely worth buying in its own right (as I have explained at some length on here before). But how much better if it comes with this.
It’s Barbara Jones’ own Christmas Card from 1960, featuring two owls who bear more than a passing resemblance to Twit and Howlett. We do have the book, so I cannot possibly justify spending a minimum of £25 on one small card. But I am tempted.
Hmmm I have two copies of Design for Death (UK and US) so can even less justify buying another copy but the card is wonderful……
I do wish that was being sold on its own!