How to estimate the condition of a poster.

Where possible we describe the condition of a poster for sale as it was acquired by us and before any restoration is undertaken. The approach to determining the condition of a poster varies from place to place and is always somewhat subjective. Furthermore, it is hard to be sure from looking at a photo on the internet exactly what it is you are getting. If in doubt CONTACT US for additional photos and more details.

A summary of the condition guide appears first but for those wanting more detail please print off a copy of our matrix adopted from a 10 point system developed by Jon Warren, author of Warren’s Movie Poster Price Guide and owner of  iGuide Media. Keep in mind that a lower grade condition in the summary may also show all issues of the higher grade poster; so for example a C7 poster may also have the pinholes that you expect to see in a C9 poster.

C10: Mint.

C9:  Excellent – Slight Wear pinholes

C8: Fine – Slight Wear along fold lines, small creases, minor nips along the margin

C7: Generally very good but with minor tears or parting along the fold lines and/or nips and tears along the margin and corners

C6- Generally good but with presence of tape on the back moderate tears no image loss but may have missing paper along the margin and at the cross fold. Newer posters will show wrinkling.

C5: Still nice but now creases and overall aging is spoiling the appearance; poster – may have much tape on the verso.

C4: Heavy fold wear and separation along fold lines paper is brittle staining evident.

C3; Like C4 but with bleed through from writing on the back – severe edge fraying.

C2: Heavy foxing (brown stains) wear and brittle and severely stained.

C1: Essentially worthless in all but the most valuable of posters.

 

 

 

One thought on “How to estimate the condition of a poster.”

Comments are closed.