Over the last couple of years I've heard a growing amount of controversy on
the topic of restoration. Some dealers and auctions, while trying to make
their posters as beautiful as possible to get higher dollars, are having restorers
cover their work. Which in itself is no problem at all. That's actually the
mark of an expert restorer. The problem comes in when the same dealer or auction
house doesn't notify the potential buyer the amount of restoration that has
been done and tries to pass it as original condition.
Before
the setting up of 'Condition Codes', longer and longer descriptions had to
be used to let the buyer know what he was looking to purchase. Now we're going
through the same thing about restoration
I
have a proposal for ALL collectors that handle movie posters to consider.
I have sent this proposal to several major individuals in the hobby over the
past month and have received NO negatives about it except the common statement
that it would be hard to get some old-timers to use it.
Our
hobby (or to some of us it's more than a hobbyJ is changing quite rapidly,
some for the better, but also some major obstacles are coming that's going
to shake up a lot of collectors. I wanted to present the addition of a 'Restoration
Code' to alert ANY buyer that some type of restoration had been done.
The
criteria that I was looking at was:
1.give
a simple alert that would instantly be recognizable.
2.something
that would work IN ADDITION to ANY condition rating system that the
collector or dealer used. I figured that most collectors and dealers are comfortable
with whatever system that they're using (some collectors use 'excellent' condition
and some use fine' and 'very fine' etc)
3. It had to be simple enough without any complicated formulas to understand
it or it wouldn't be used.
4. Something that had NOTHING to do with how much knowledge you needed
to implement it. I've already gotten a response that it should be broken
down a lot more and policing would have to be implemented to make it work.
This is NOT what I was trying to do with it..... there's already enough squabbling
over the terms used as CONDITION codes, we don't need anything else that would
produce more controversy
5. It needs to be something that ALL CAMPS can agree with so there's no stance
for political purposes. Personally I wanted one code included that could also
let someone know that the poster may have been cleaned or stains removed but
NO paper had been replaced and NO re-painting had been done.
HERE'S MY PROPOSAL
First,
the SAME condition code that any dealer uses now would still apply. If a poster
has NOT been restored in ANY way, then nothing would change
.
BUT ONLY IF THE POSTER HAD ANY RESTORATION DONE - Then place a dash and a
simple one letter code from A to E
A
No painting or holes mended in any way. Poster could be cleaned with stains,
dirt or marks being removed BUT NO repairs or paint.
B
Any cleaning with stains dirt and marks removed PLUS minor holes smaller than
a quarter and corresponding paint touch-up done. Would also include some minor
repair work normally around the fold lines and edges, which is typical.
C
Major tears repaired and some medium size holes filled in and repainted.
D
Large holes with large amounts of paper replaced and painted in. About half
the poster is original.
E
Extreme amounts of paper replaced and painted in. Only a small amount of the
original poster remains.
An example of utilizing the code would be
. You have a poster in VF condition.
You had some restoration done that basically repaired wear holes down the
fold lines
.
Then your code would be: VF-B
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The use of this new code would both alert the potential buyer that a restorer
had been used AND keep the honest seller from doing a growing amount of explaining.
I'm
hoping that newer collectors should embrace it but some dealers won't because
it would then alert everyone with this simple code that restoration had been
done, unless so many of the major entities endorse it that they would feel
obligated to use it:).
We
as collectors could simply ask (if it's not presented with the condition)
is there a restoration code with the poster?
Thanks
for your time in reading my proposal.
I've
made my suggestions, it's up to collectors to use it or not.
If
you have any comments or suggestions, you can always email me.
ed
edp@LearnAboutMoviePosters.com