Poster Restorers, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

[erik1925]

Detail shots of the cracking and chipping areas.





This piece sold tonight in Bruce's auction. Per the description:

"The poster had darkened and had many creases, scuffs, and stains scattered throughout, with pinholes, tears, and areas of paper loss around the edges. Some restorer thought the best solution was to repaint over all of the solid colored areas, but over time, that paint has dried out and chipped off in many places."

[Charlie]

I still think it is varnish that yellowed...  It is most likely not water based...  It probably was applied like fixative - over the entire poster.  Just MO...

[erik1925]

Whether it is paint or varnish, this is certainly an example of how NOT to restore or conserve a poster.

[Ari]

The cracks go over the photographic art also, so I think varnish could be correct.

[CSM]

I have a feeling it's not salvageable - looks like the entire poster was covered (in paint or varnish - whatever it is)

[erik1925]

And someone paid 702 smackers for it.

But it isnt a format that comes around very often, either.

[guest4251]

I think and it looks like it is paint. look closely. Looks like NNS bottom left been masked off at one point. If it was varnish, the person would have just coated the whole poster without masking.

Best,
dario.

[Charlie]

I think and it looks like it is paint. look closely. Looks like NNS bottom left been masked off at one point. If it was varnish, the person would have just coated the whole poster without masking.

Best,
dario.

I see that; good eye...  Why the paint though and why so thick?

[erik1925]

The "restorer" certainly picked a dark shade of paint, didnt he Dario?
 
And if you look at the small "This is the property of" wording just to the left of the NSS numbers, part of words in both lines look to have been painted over, as well. There is a gap (caused by a covered by paint) of part of the words (in line 1) "in connection" and the second line, a portion of the words, "immediately thereafter" is also covered.

As a non painted copy should look, by comparison:

[Charlie]

Maybe both.  He masked it off, painted and then varnished it.  I don't understand why areas through the face would crack the same as those areas painted.  If he had masked off everything but the white space the faces would not have cracked which means what ever was applied to the white space was also applied to the faces...  Oh well we will probably never know unless Dario gets to do the resto job...

[Charlie]

There is definitely some overall changes to the poster not just specific areas.

[erik1925]

Remember too, that Bruce also mentioned that this had been rolled, after this 'restoration/conservation' had been completed. This certainly could have helped speed along the rippling and cracking, with so much of the paper made stiff by this coating.

[erik1925]

A definite and 'high five' and recommendation goes out to Mario Cueva and his company, Lumiere Poster Restoration (http://www.lumiereposterrestoration.com/) in southern California. He does very fine work, is knowledgeable and his turn around time is  , too.

And, on the flip side ... one to stay away from and avoid like the plague, (especially EU based collectors) is Alain Bourgouin (Poster Science), in Deal, Kent, UK. One's poster may languish in poster purgatory for months (if not longer) and get potentially mishandled or damaged while in his so-called "care."  

[erik1925]

This was posted a short time ago, on MOPO, from Todd Feiertag, re J.Fields Restoration, now known as Papersmith (http://papersmith.net/):

"After hearing about their shoddy work for years and after they destroyed, yes destroyed a good friend's MINT 3 Sheet, I've never used this company.

But now another good friend who's been trying to get his poster back from them for weeks, who's had to hound them, calling and emailing them many times and even getting in touch with their building management, with no response whatsoever, finally got a response yesterday in only a tracking number. 

No apology, just a tracking number.   

This is from a customer who was kind enough to donate money to Field's after they were flooded out several years ago.  Of course after this horrible experience, he will never deal with them again!  They never even restored the poster!!

Here's another company who doesn't know how to treat their customers.  Another business where incompetence has run rampant, without accountability and refuses to take responsibility for their actions.

I don't know if anyone here actually uses them but if you haven't and are thinking of using them, be WARNED!

Todd Feiertag/POSTER CITY"

[AjTheGreat]

This was posted a short time ago, on MOPO, from Todd Feiertag, re J.Fields Restoration, now known as Papersmith (http://papersmith.net/):

"After hearing about their shoddy work for years and after they destroyed, yes destroyed a good friend's MINT 3 Sheet, I've never used this company.

But now another good friend who's been trying to get his poster back from them for weeks, who's had to hound them, calling and emailing them many times and even getting in touch with their building management, with no response whatsoever, finally got a response yesterday in only a tracking number. 

No apology, just a tracking number.   

This is from a customer who was kind enough to donate money to Field's after they were flooded out several years ago.  Of course after this horrible experience, he will never deal with them again!  They never even restored the poster!!

Here's another company who doesn't know how to treat their customers.  Another business where incompetence has run rampant, without accountability and refuses to take responsibility for their actions.

I don't know if anyone here actually uses them but if you haven't and are thinking of using them, be WARNED!

Todd Feiertag/POSTER CITY"

Thats terrible.

[erik1925]

And I used to hear and read good things about this company, especially before they moved and were in Philadelphia. A number of people, including Tom Pennock used them and liked their work and prices. I recall Tom's biggest complaint, when I emailed and asked him about J Fields, was their extremely slow turn around time.

Too bad. I wonder what has happened with the company.

[erik1925]

The "Restorers to Recommend and Avoid" thread was merged with this one, that was started first, (by a month, and my thread title was just plain boring)....  

Plus, there's no need for 2 threads on exactly the same topic.

Ever forward.

[paul waines]

Nice work Jeff, glad your on the ball...

[Neo]

This is just a continuation from my experience with Jaime Mendez Restoration, aka restorationbyJM.com, that I mentioned in the Before and After [Show Off Your Restoration] thread. http://www.allposterforum.com/index.php/topic,4517.msg184949.html#msg184949

Although several people seem to think that JM is the Mr. Wizard of restoration, in my experience, that is clearly not the case.  In the brief review on the other thread, that I mentioned right after receiving the poster, I was overly generous on the whole experience with JM.  

After closely looking at the restoration, and as others mentioned in that thread, the quality of work from JM was sub-par, at best.  In addition to the shoddy work, the customer service from JM was also not good.  

Here is a summary of my experience with JM:
JM and I had chatted briefly via email, and I mentioned that I had sent a poster, and asked that he contact me when he received it.  That way, I could confirm that he received it, and we could talk about any work.  After he received it, he didn't contact me, so I waited a few days, then sent him an email, mentioning a few things I'd like done with the work.  Almost a week later, I still had not heard from them, so I called and the woman I spoke with said they would call me back.  The next day, she called me back and said the restoration was done, and I asked if they could send a photo of the work.  The next day they sent me an invoice saying it was all packaged and ready to go, and there was no photo.  

Maybe they forgot to take a photo, which likely would have shown the damages and shoddy work, or maybe they were not being honest about the damage they caused, and the sub-par work.

There was also an issue with the return shipping, and JM said it was the fault of USPS for not updating the tracking info.  I waited over a week for a 2-day priority mail package to be delivered, and the tracking info. had not been updated the entire time.

Looking back on it, it was far from a good experience.  The times I've dealt with Poster Mountain and Poster Conservation, we were in communication the whole time, and everything went smoothly.  It shows their character and quality of customer service.  Of course the quality of work is important, and PM, PC, and likely other folks, are excellent in all respects.

[erik1925]

JM should re-back that poster for you, Brandon, at NO CHARGE, to correct those creases he caused at the top of the poster. Of course, that wont remove the scratch they did, but maybe it would retouched in a manner worthy of someone with his years of experience, vs. it looking like a Chris Cloutier "quick swipe" of a green marker.

And he should cover the postage cost to send it both ways.

I would bet that none of that will be forthcoming from him, tho. 

[Neo]

JM should re-back that poster for you, Brandon, at NO CHARGE, to correct those creases he caused at the top of the poster. Of course, that wont remove the scratch they did, but maybe it would retouched in a manner worthy of someone with his years of experience, vs. it looking like a Chris Cloutier "quick swipe" of a green marker.

And he should cover the postage cost to send it both ways.

I would bet that none of that will be forthcoming from him, tho. 

It's not worth the time or energy to send it back to him.  Hopefully PayPal will see the obvious and settle the claim.

[erik1925]

It's not worth the time or energy to send it back to him.  Hopefully PayPal will see the obvious and settle the claim.

No, I know.

It was more the "in a perfect world" idea and thinking.

[brude]

Well, one thing's for certain, I will not send him my Frankie 6-sheet for backing.

In fact, I won't even send him my wrinkled Justin Bieber poster, either.

[CSM]

It's unfortunate you were not provided a photo before the poster was sent back to you.

In my experience, I would never conclude the transaction with the restorer until I had photos of the finished work.  On a couple of occasions this has allowed me to spot some slight oversights in the work that I was able to point out and have corrected very quickly prior to getting the posters back to me.  Saves a lot of hassle in the end...

[Neo]

It's unfortunate you were not provided a photo before the poster was sent back to you.

In my experience, I would never conclude the transaction with the restorer until I had photos of the finished work.  On a couple of occasions this has allowed me to spot some slight oversights in the work that I was able to point out and have corrected very quickly prior to getting the posters back to me.  Saves a lot of hassle in the end...

Yeah, it makes sense to see a photo to review the work, before finalizing the transaction.  

In this case, it's highly possible that Jaime Mendez was intentionally being deceptive, and not forthright about the damage and shoddy work they did, as the damages are permanent.  The huge crease during the backing that was bad enough that they had to touch up the entire crease, and the huge and mismatched touch ups on the fold lines and the large scratch or whatever they caused, etc.

In the future, I'll always ask for the restorer to send a photo pre-resto and post-resto.