All Poster Forum
Common Poster Subjects => Packaging & Shipping => Topic started by: enki on August 16, 2012, 08:18:57 PM
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So, long story short, I just received my SW Concert poster from the HA Signature Auction a few weeks ago. When I got home and picked up the tube, I was immediate concerned because I felt something sliding around inside. The outer tube was undamaged, so I opened it up. There was a bubble wrap "buffer" on one side of the inside of the tube, but not the other, so there was a 2-3" gap between the edge of the poster and the end of the tube - so it's been bouncing around in there for the past few days in shipping. Additionally, the poster was simply wrapped in bubble wrap, with the excess on both sides stuffed inside the middle holes. I carefully removed it from one side (the one that was on the bufferless end) and saw that one corner of the poster was dented/warped. I double checked the online pictures from the auction itself to see if I missed that or it was already present, but nope, it was pristine. Also, there seems to be some tiny black dots right where the damage was, also not on the oversized image on HA's website which is pure white.
So I think that either the poster got damaged during the packing job, or earlier, or it suffered damage during transit due to the poor packaging.
Maybe I'm just spoiled by EMP and the remarkable packing job that Bruce and his team do (though CM's Dave, who I've also bought from on eBay, does a great job as well), but I can't see how HA wouldn't realize what a horrible idea it is to not protect the poster properly. In EMP's case, the edges never have a chance to touch anything since it's encased in oversize acid-free paper. But HA surrounded it with bubble tape, so any bumps would put pressure directly on the edges.
I tried calling HA, but it was too late (7PM ET). The receptionist at the CA office was nice and pleasant, and said for me to email Chris who would reach out to me tomorrow (she spoke to him on his cell phone and he was made aware of the issue). Outside of opening the tube and examining the one side, I have not opened the wrapping anymore. I took pictures of everything and attached it to the email.
This is my first purchase from HA, and I am far from happy. Not only did they loose track of my bid after I won, claiming that I did lost - which was upsetting to say the least - only to admit it was a computer glitch and I did win (after spending an hour on hold), but now my poster arrives damaged. I haven't examined the rest of it, so I can only hope that this was the only issue. It's on the bottom left edge, so it's not too noticeable, but I certainly feel like I shouldn't have to just "live with it" since HA clearly screwed up in some way.
Has anyone had a similar issue with HA in the past? It's not like they could just replace this poster, so I'm not sure what they could do to fix the issue.
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Yes enki..anyone who has repeated dealings with Heritage is aware of packaging dramas..it's because they outsource this service..
My story..."I recently found a nice set of Chaplin lobby cards from the film Pay Day and won them on my birthday!! After winning the lot and waiting roughly one month...the lobbies arrived...they were inside the usual protective sleeve...however the person who shoved them in..as a set...did not notice that several of the lobby cards had caught a corner and folded back the top left corner with several clean folds which left the cards corner pressed...like an accordion..to the back of the card...after checking the description and photos carefully..I was convinced that this happened post auction...during shipping..
Remarkably..I already had ONE of the damaged cards in perfect condition so I switched them out and sold the other..
If i hadn't gotten such a great deal I would have been tougher...
Shipping with heritage is a risk and something to consider
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LOL so sorry for your loss Enki... Just another Heritage fuck up - you starting to take notice yet Grey?
YOUR SERVICES SUCK!
It always seems like hindsight is 20/20 later down the road but you can only be chalked up as a poor manager if you can't figure this no-brainer out... customer service is key and your group is failing big time. And now it is not just with a cheapo like me - you screwed up with a guy that actually has significant disposible income..
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Considering the huge shipping fees they charge, you think they'd be perfect at packing. I've had them mangle a few packages over the years. But, they are usually pretty good about refunds for shipping damage. It's a shame to see good posters get ruined though.
Stick with Bruce and Rich (and Sean now!). They know what they're doing.
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Has anyone had a similar issue with HA in the past? It's not like they could just replace this poster, so I'm not sure what they could do to fix the issue.
They taped the surface of my Terminator quad to the backer board and since I wasn't expecting such idiocracy I removed the tape and stripped a piece of the poster off... FAIL! Last poster I will buy unless I hear they have fixed things..
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FAIL! Last poster I will buy unless I hear they have fixed things..
I thought you weren't going to buy from them because they had GavelSnipe?
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_N0qfjpJBHrI/TKzXwaImckI/AAAAAAAAAoQ/2tCCqIdwhM4/s400/20041019_smiley-lg-image.gif)
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Oh dear!.
Just bought a poster from them... awaiting their postal invoice.
Doesn't bode well.
Thanks for the heads up.
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I thought you weren't going to buy from them because they had GavelSnipe?
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_N0qfjpJBHrI/TKzXwaImckI/AAAAAAAAAoQ/2tCCqIdwhM4/s400/20041019_smiley-lg-image.gif)
That is an entirely different issue... I primarily feel that by using gavelsnipe I may be showing my cards; however I can admit it sounds more 'Conspiracy Theory' than pure truth. However, that is easily nipped by non use. My main gripe has always been 30+ day shipping and the recent wave of piss poor pacakging only adds to the idiocracy of Heritage. I mean come on it was a $3000 poster and you can't do something as fundamental as shipping?
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Thanks for the feedback. It's a shame that damage due to piss-poor shipping seems to be the norm with HA. What do you think they will do in my case? I don't want to return the poster, since it's quite rare. But I also feel like they need to compensate me for the devaluation caused by the damage. And if they come back with "we'll refund you the $25 for shipping and handling" I will tell them to go fuck themselves and I'll see them in court. I would expect a MINIMUM of a 10% credit, which is only half of their buyers premium. Not only did HA screw up half of their responsibilities (ie: getting the buyer their poster) but they also screwed up on figuring out who the buyer was. So what do you think they will do?
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All you can do is e-mail Grey... I did not contact them because I hate excuses - you only get a couple of chances to get it right with me and I was done. I am sure they will compensate you in some way... But come on that is not a poster that is easily replaced!
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As long as you are honest, let the world know what happened - show the photos of the bad packaging. If you get resolution, then mention that as well. Companies should be outed for their failings and not swept under the carpet with a pay off or by having neg comments recinded. Bruce obviously has excellent quality control in place, same goes for Rich, other businesses save money by not ensuring similar standards. Screw them! Its a calculated gamble they take, they get what they deserve! This is not a school kid selling posters on the side, or an isolated incident, this is a major organisation that should know better than any one else in the poster industry how to handle sales and pack posters well.
Heritage screwed me 6 years ago grading a $4000 poster as near mint but I discovered it had restoration/replacement the size of a hand. I also kept it as it is rare and it just doesn't come up and I also wasn't going to pay to ship a linen backed 6 sheet at my expense to the other side of the planet just so they can assess it. I am happy to mention this forever - they screw up, they're stuck with it, like having a crimal record. Ensure quality service and that company won't suffer the wrath of it's customers. I don't think I have bought from them since.
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(though CM's Dave, who I've also bought from on eBay, does a great job as well)
Yeah, he is good.
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Just so everyone understands what I am describing.... Here are some pictures (which I sent to Chris and Grey.
Here are some of the damage:
(http://core.routed.com/heritage/DSC00257.jpg)
You can also see those black "dots" I was talking about, which are NOT present in the online auction pictures:
(http://core.routed.com/heritage/DSC00261.jpg)
(http://core.routed.com/heritage/DSC00267.jpg)
(http://core.routed.com/heritage/DSC00268.jpg)
Here is the packing job they did:
(http://core.routed.com/heritage/DSC00262.jpg)
Now, the left side (in the picture) is the side that suffered the damage. The right side looks fine, and it had that extra 3-4" "buffer" of bubble wrap (as shown in the picture below).
(http://core.routed.com/heritage/DSC00263.jpg)
The damaged left side on the other hand did not have this. Regarding that side, the poster arrived with the excess bubble wrapped stuffed inside the center of the rolled poster (identical to the above picture). I pulled out the excess bubble wrap, to examine the poster. I kept it pulled out to prevent risking more damage by trying to stick it back in, so that is why it's exposed in the picture. But when it was shipped, there was only a single layer of bubble wrap "protecting" the edge, which basically meant the edge had practically no protection at all.
So, with that in mind, here are closeups of the left side (as it would have been in the tube:
(http://core.routed.com/heritage/DSC00264.jpg)
As you can see, there is about a 2-3" gap between where the poster ended and the tube ended. Meaning for the past few days, as Fedex Ground was throwing it around and it was bouncing across the country, the poster was sliding back and forth inside the tube. Hence the damage.
Hopefully this gives everyone a better idea about what I'm referring to.
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Yep they messed up but it appears they simply forgot to add the other bubble cap.
I can say I've received many packages (maybe 40 or so) from Heritage and they've always been very well packaged and arrived undamaged. The shipping costs have been pretty reasonable.
I definitely share your frustration that they didn't take extra care with such a rare poster. The same thing happened to me when momandpopcupture sent me a rare Hellcats poster in a relatively thin tube.
I still think you should keep it since the frame will cover up the denting. Maybe you can negotiate a discount.
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Yep they messed up but it appears they simply forgot to add the other bubble cap.
I can say I've received many packages (maybe 40 or so) from Heritage and they've always been very well packaged and arrived undamaged. The shipping costs are no higher than anybody else.
I definitely share your frustration that they didn't take extra care with such a rare poster. The same thing happened to me when momandpopcupture sent me a rare Hellcats poster in a relatively thin tube.
I still think you should keep it since the frame will cover up the denting.
Yes, the lack of bubble wrap padding was definitely a problem. But I think the fact that they used bubble wrap at all was a bad choice. EMP uses oversized acid-free paper which is larger then the poster, so the edges are completely protected (eg: they never actually touch anything). Versus with bubble wrap, the edges are encased in wrapping, and any bumps could put pressure on the edges.
I certainly plan on keeping the poster, as I doubt I will find another one anytime soon (especially signed by Lucas). And it's not like they could just replace it, nor would I let them "restore" it. But I still think that since they caused damage and lowered the overall condition that they should compensate me for the loss in value. Factoring in the SP and BP, they probably made over $1000 here.
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By the way, I emailed Chris/Grey last night, and have yet to hear back from either of them. Once I do, I will share what they say.
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I had a rare title card from the 30's come in one time from Heritage in there were bends in it which were not written about in the description and did not show in their photos. I sent Heritage an email with photos explaining the situation. Their response was just to send it back for a full refund, no explanation or apology. Since it was a rare card I decided to keep it, but I'm still not happy about it.
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I had a rare title card from the 30's come in one time from Heritage in there were bends in it which were not written about in the description and did not show in their photos. I sent Heritage an email with photos explaining the situation. Their response was just to send it back for a full refund, no explanation or apology. Since it was a rare card I decided to keep it, but I'm still not happy about it.
If the only two choices are return it for refund or keep it with damage, that doesn't seem like very good customer service.
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If the only two choices are return it for refund or keep it with damage, that doesn't seem like very good customer service.
Agreed.
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UPDATE:
So, after not hearing back from Heritage (after being told I would by first thing this morning), I sent another email to Chris and Grey saying that I am unhappy that no one reached out to me yet. About 5 minutes later Grey called me on my cell phone. He apologized the no one called me yet, saying Chris wasn't aware that the receptionist made that promise.
Anyway, he said that he did already speak to the manager of the group who packages these up, who spoke to the person who is responsible for the Signature Items who said that he must have forgotten to put in the left "buffer" of bubble wrap. I explained that while this most likely caused the damage, I would highly suggest that they rethink their packaging materials for shipping posters. As I mentioned above, even with a buffer it could still get damaged and the oversized paper method (employed by EMP) provides exponentially more protection.
He asked me what I wanted to do, and offered a full refund if I wanted to return it, or they would pay to have the poster "pressed" to remove the damage. I politely declined both offers, saying that the poster is not easily replaceable and that I do not want it restored, as that alone can detract from the value. He asked me what I thought was fair, and I said that I thought Heritage should cover the difference in value due to the condition. He asked me what I thought was an appropriate amount, and I said 10% of the price (which I think is a fair amount based on the poster, original condition and damage sustained). He agreed to that and said he would work on getting the refund processed by Monday.
So all in all, while I am not happy that my poster is damaged, I do feel that Heritage did the right thing here and is making good on trying to correct their mistake. Hopefully they do actually process my refund properly, and I hope even more that they change their packaging policies. They often have some very rare and interesting pieces (that are unlikely to be found anywhere else) and I hope to be able to purchase from them in the future without having to worry about a similar problem.
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I know its still not enough but it is good to read that the issue was handled as well as it could be.
Receiving damaged posters is the worst nightmare. In this racket anyway.
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I know its still not enough but it is good to read that the issue was handled as well as it could be.
Receiving damaged posters is the worst nightmare. In this racket anyway.
The worst nightmare is not receiving them at all. Got 2 packages missing lately...
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I know its still not enough but it is good to read that the issue was handled as well as it could be.
Agreed. Good on Grey to fix the situation. And no doubt the public posting of the situation helped you out quite a bit Enki!
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The worst nightmare is not receiving them at all. Got 2 packages missing lately...
I received an empty tube once. The cardboard cap was loose on the end, and no poster. It was something rare and not cheap either. The seller did not ensure it for some reason. He said he only does it when requested, which I found strange.
Thankfully, he was reputable and refunded the entire purchase.
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UPDATE:
... they would pay to have the poster "pressed" to remove the damage. I politely declined both offers, saying that the poster is not easily replaceable and that I do not want it restored, as that alone can detract from the value.
The pressing Grey was referring to I am sure is a dry heat press, which adds nothing to the poster and takes away nothing from it. It "relaxes" the paper memory and then flattens it again.
My guess is that on a small amount of damage like that it would press very cleanly, especially since it is a non-color breaking fold and you would never know it had been there.
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The worst nightmare is not receiving them at all. Got 2 packages missing lately...
True. Happened to me once with Heritage. After I had gotten a refund the poster turned up back in Texas. Funny place to lose a poster, your own facility.
Good luck with the two.
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So, to conclude my epic tale, I wanted to let everyone know that I received my check from HA today. So they resolved the issue properly and promptly. A thanks goes out to Grey who personally took care of it.
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So, to conclude my epic tale, I wanted to let everyone know that I received my check from HA today. So they resolved the issue properly and promptly. A thanks goes out to Grey who personally took care of it.
Lucky you Enki!
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Enki,
I feel your pain, I purchased several lots myself. As can be seen below they fared far worse than yours. To their credit though, there was no issue with refunds or working things out as one of the lots in particular, ESB color separations, was too rare to send back as I am not likely going to see another set come up for sale. I had purchased another oversized poster and they survived safely inside that one like the paper packing method that EMP uses, just unintentionally. Sadly several others including some Star Wars posters from the Williams collection will never be the same which is a tremendous shame, luckily there were not any of the very rare ones. Refund showed today for me as well.
(http://undead.net/images/poster_damages.jpg)
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Refunds are all well and good, but the careless handling of rare and valuable items -- Enki's Lucas-signed SW Concert poster and your ESB color seps -- is inexcusable.
I cannot believe that this even occurs.
WTF?
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What amazes me as well is that the posters aren't even Heritage's property until delivered to the auction winner! They still owe a duty of care to the consignor
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Enki,
I feel your pain, I purchased several lots myself. As can be seen below they fared far worse than yours. To their credit though, there was no issue with refunds or working things out as one of the lots in particular, ESB color separations, was too rare to send back as I am not likely going to see another set come up for sale. I had purchased another oversized poster and they survived safely inside that one like the paper packing method that EMP uses, just unintentionally. Sadly several others including some Star Wars posters from the Williams collection will never be the same which is a tremendous shame, luckily there were not any of the very rare ones. Refund showed today for me as well.
That's horrible! Out of curiousity, which other SW posters did you pick up? I wanted to go for a few of them, but many of the prices just went astronomical (IMHO). So I decided to just go all in on the one.
I think I will take that same approach when I order from HA in the future. Always buy some cheap poster that's bigger then the one you care about to serve as a protection mechanism...
In my emails to HA, and in my phone call with Grey, I strongly encouraged that they really need to change their packaging system. He didn't seem to be too interested in my advice though, but hopefully they eventually fix it. There 'oops' in my case cost them about $450. That could have paid for enough paper to properly pack every poster in their signature auction.
While the seem to have no problem risking $10-$5000 posters in this manner, I wonder how they treat the $150,000+ posters they sell.
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deadhorse
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Enki,
I feel your pain, I purchased several lots myself. As can be seen below they fared far worse than yours. To their credit though, there was no issue with refunds or working things out as one of the lots in particular, ESB color separations, was too rare to send back as I am not likely going to see another set come up for sale. I had purchased another oversized poster and they survived safely inside that one like the paper packing method that EMP uses, just unintentionally. Sadly several others including some Star Wars posters from the Williams collection will never be the same which is a tremendous shame, luckily there were not any of the very rare ones. Refund showed today for me as well.
(http://undead.net/images/poster_damages.jpg)
What exactly happened?
You should definitely get the ESB separations pressed and make Heritage pay for it. They truly are irreplaceable.
PosterMountain charges $200.
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Oh dear!.
Just bought a poster from them... awaiting their postal invoice.
Doesn't bode well.
Thanks for the heads up.
Well, while providing no solace to the ones with stories before me, my poster turned up well packed and safely handed over. Mind you it was a flat packed item as opposed to rolled. I always have more concern over the rolled items.
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Mel, my case was just like Enki, only bubble wrap on one side of the tube and not the other so they slid around in shipping. The unprotected end got smashed to hell and the protected end was only slightly damaged since it had some padding from the bubble wrap.
Enki, I had marked about 30 auctions that I planned on bidding on and in the end only bid on and won five, two Star Wars. Those were the separations and the IMAX Attack of the Clones, I have an uncut ticket sheet, thought they would go great together and paying a little extra for a truly mint looking copy was ok to me in this case. It did not survive well and now has edge tears and other damage. Can send picks if it comes up for sale and anyone wants detailed shots of the damage I took lots of them. For the Star Wars posters, they blew my mind on many of the prices and in very few cases went for less than I expected them to. Thankfully I either own or have owned just about every poster that was made pre-SE so passing on them did not hurt from an OCD collectors standpoint. The only one that I let go and regret is the Hildebrandt Quad, should have kept bidding on that one.
In all most of the prices exceeded what I thought they would go for well before the live auctions started across many fields, not just Star Wars which is why I chose to pass. I think that a few of the most out there prices were-
Star Wars Record Mylar $1,015 which in that condition I think should be $150.00 at an absolute Max. http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7060&lotNo=83313 (http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7060&lotNo=83313)
Star Wars Russian Cowboy $3,585, my jaw is still on the floor. http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7060&lotNo=83293 (http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7060&lotNo=83293)
Star Wars Trilogy Draft House, I think it is a cool poster but.... http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7060&lotNo=83318 (http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7060&lotNo=83318)
Star Wars Six Sheet, stopped bidding on this one at around $800 http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7060&lotNo=83307 (http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7060&lotNo=83307)
Star Wars Japanese 82RR is a $150.00 poster IMO tops http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7060&lotNo=83316 (http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7060&lotNo=83316)
Empire Quad, admittedly very rare in any condition this went for more than I felt it was worth but apparently at least two bidders disagreed which is good for the consignor and Heritage, bad for me, will keep looking. http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7060&lotNo=83601 (http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7060&lotNo=83601)
The Empire Strikes Back Coke Posters blew my mind, I need to dig my rolls of these out and start selling them. When I was a dealer 20+ years ago when I used to give them away with any Star Wars purchase just to get rid of them. Same with the Burger King posters. Speaking of that keep an eye out, I am going to sell off a bunch of duplicate posters that I have no need for shortly, will post in for sale area.
The most surprising out of this world prices though in my opinion were on the Hong Kong posters.
$3,107
(http://images.ha.com/lf?set=path[8%2F4%2F3%2F1%2F8431493]%2Csizedata[450x2000]&call=url[file%3Aproduct.chain])
$2,309
(http://images.ha.com/lf?set=path[8%2F4%2F3%2F1%2F8431494]%2Csizedata[450x2000]&call=url[file%3Aproduct.chain])
I think actually that you made out with one of the best deals on the Concert poster.
For non Star Wars posters the one that I wanted the most but passed on at the price was the Walking Dead. For some reason I love the artwork on that one and just don't know why, even had the spot I wanted to show it picked out already. I don't think the price was all that bad but knowing how the descriptions from heritage may sound nice and detailed but actually are rarely ever accurate I thought it best to let it go. http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7060&lotNo=83273 (http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7060&lotNo=83273)
(http://images.ha.com/lf?set=path[8%2F5%2F1%2F8%2F8518611]%2Csizedata[450x2000]&call=url[file%3Aproduct.chain])
My packages actually came in two lots for both the Sunday poster auction and the main Beverly Hills auction that ended that week. They mixed the two lots thankfully which is how the larger poster came to be around the separations which survived due largely I believe to there flexibility plus that they are attached to a heavy stock paper. They actually did not slide down to he bottom of the roll that got crushed at the end. If they had, they would have been a loss, you cannot press these, they would warp and melt very very easily, my father used to make these working as a printer for a major paper for 50 years. I asked him his opinion since one of them seemed warped in the Heritage images, thankfully it is not and all are smooth overall. It was just the way Heritage had taken the picture, they did not lay it flat so it looked warped when it was not. He felt it was exposed to heat in the one corner and shrank. As they are just thin sheets of acetate only with color on them I doubt the inks would survive the heat of the pressing and would adhere to the pressing materials as they are not as tightly bonded to the acetate as they do to paper. What looks like staining is actually on the white paper sheet that is behind them, not on the actual separations themselves, the actual separations are in far better shape than I expected them to be, only the paper backing sheet is showing any real wear to it and even that is not that bad overall considering they were actually used as a tool and not meant to be a collectable.
As can be seen here they arrived safely thank every god you may want to pray to.
(http://undead.net/images/emprie_a_sep.jpg)
In all I got lucky but have learned two lessons about heritage when it comes to buying from them, expect the damage in shipping and be prepared to return or try and get a partial refund at least until they learn to ship better and second take whatever grade they give a poster and subtract 1.5 grades or so making VF become VG to VG+ and you will have a better idea what to expect when the poster arrives. Yet another Plug for you know who, eMoviePoster.com, I have never had the slightest issue with descriptions even with my inflated expectations that high grade actually be high grade and all items I have received have been shipped as good as I would ship to someone else.
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Thanks for the thorough and informative post!
And yes, I thoroughly agree with your about EMP. Not only are the condition reports precise (if not better then described), but the shipping has always been beyond perfect.
Why were you surprised about the Russian Cowboy poster? IIRC, that's an extremely rare one and doesn't come up that often. I really like it myself, but the fact that it's huge and broken into 3 sheets makes it difficult to display (for me at least). But I thought the sale price was around what it's value was.
Question: what exactly is a "separations" poster? I've never heard of that before.
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By the way, here is my poster framed on on my wall:
(http://core.routed.com/~jbabiak/posters/concert.jpg)
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Now that is sweet Enki!!! One of my favorite Star Wars Posters and one of the very very few I have never owned a copy of. I am jealous!!!
Another long winded one, sorry but there are lots of pics for those that do not like to read and just enjoy the pretty aspects of the hobby.
On the Russian Cowboy version, I feel the rarity does demand a strong price yes but I do not think it is that rare where it should demand quite that price for a more modern poster. Also I am not all that fond of the artwork myself which is one of the main driving forces behind my collecting, do I like the poster(s).... Yes, do I like the movie... Yes, in that case it is OK to buy. I prefer to buy based on the artwork and if I enjoyed the movie or not and collectable/investment value after the fact as we can never say exactly where this market or any collectible market will go. As an example I just paid what I feel was above the value for a rolled Attack of the Killer Tomatoes poster. In the case of this movie I feel it is one of the coolest posters in my collection so to me it is worth more than to someone else who does not think the artwork is as cool. Same goes for the Cowboy SW poster.
For the color separations when a printer poster, newspaper, etc. is preparing to do a print run, before the current digital methods anyway, they create a series of acetate sheets which each color printed separately for each color used. For a CMYK 4 color print run these would be Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. After creating each color layer these are then bound to something in most cases like the heavy paper backing sheet these are bound to or sometimes just stapled to a board layered one on top of each other in order of the colors as they are printed each layer can be peeled back as needed to one color or a series. These are then used to compare each color as they are printed one atop the other as well as individually to proof them and make sure that they are printing correctly. I have taken some shots and shown them below in order as well as the individual colors themselves. In this case there are actually five colors technically as there is a silver layer for the title. If there is a problem and let’s say the magenta is not printing properly then they can identify the color issue and correct it before continuing the print run setup and moving on to full printing production run. In short they are used to setup the presses color process prior to as well as while making the full runs that produce the final posters. These are IMO one of if not the rarest collectible poster pieces you can have short of owning the original plates themselves or the color separations used to create the plates as these are actually created before the final printers proofs and posters themselves. As an added tidbit, there would be two types of these, one in color, these and one in black and white for each color for use in creating the plates themselves. Odds are these are one of one or two sets created prior to any printing taking place and likely the only ones in existence for this poster which from the cool factor perspective of collecting printed material is just really something else. Since I am actually a collector of all kinds of printed materials this gives these extra significance as they are not only for one of my favorite posters and movies but a rare piece of the actual printing process itself. I am absolutely amazed they did not sell for far more than they did.
Side by side shots of each of the five colors used for this poster. Keep in mind these are actually all attached like a flip book or something similar. Normal four color printing used Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. In this case there is a fifth silver layer for the title. Any waviness seen is just from the way I took the shots without trying to make sure everything was smoothed out to much, also some waviness is from the white paper I have separating the sheets themselves.
(http://undead.net/images/00_all_ordered.jpg)
First printing layer, yellow (Y) only.
(http://undead.net/images/04_Y.jpg)
Second printing color run magenta (M) over yellow
(http://undead.net/images/03_MY.jpg)
Third printing process cyan (C) over yellow and magenta
(http://undead.net/images/02_CMY.jpg)
Fourth printing color run black (K) over cyan, magenta and yellow
(http://undead.net/images/01_CMYK.jpg)
Final run for this poster silver over all other colors
(http://undead.net/images/00_CMYKS.jpg)
Individual color separations shown individually
Yellow (Y)
(http://undead.net/images/09_Y.jpg)
Magenta (M)
(http://undead.net/images/08_M.jpg)
Cyan (C)
(http://undead.net/images/07_C.jpg)
Black (K)
(http://undead.net/images/06_K.jpg)
Silver
(http://undead.net/images/05_S.jpg)
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to those who don't know this factoid:
each unit at Heritage is a separately incorporated business with separate leadership.
The shipping unit is an embarrassment to Heritage, although I have never gotten a damaged package from them, sometimes they aren't up to snuff in other ways.
Grey Smith is not in a position to change what goes on at the shipping dept (as a corportae structured business is set up) and he can't do much more than complain to the dept head either.
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Excellent posts, Undead. Very informative and interesting. Sounds like you have a lot of knowledge about the "older school" printing process.
Very cool Star Wars posters.
sm1
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to those who don't know this factoid:
each unit at Heritage is a separately incorporated business with separate leadership.
Very interesting. Similar to the law business, large general law firms vs. boutique firms that specialize in one area of the alw.
I guess the Heritage structure is beneficial for three reasons: (1) shared admin costs, (2) able to handle diverse consignments (estates, etc), and (3) cross-marketing among the divisions.
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Grey Smith is not in a position to change what goes on at the shipping dept (as a corportae structured business is set up) and he can't do much more than complain to the dept head either.
As credits, costs to repair and complaints seem to escalate (thus impact on margins) one would imagine it is something he should be able to successfully raise with the head of the packaging area and if no improvement then at board level.
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Agreed. In my case, I wonder which "separately incorporated business" took the loss to pay for the damage.
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Very interesting. Similar to the law business, large general law firms vs. boutique firms that specialize in one area of the alw.
I guess the Heritage structure is beneficial for three reasons: (1) shared admin costs, (2) able to handle diverse consignments (estates, etc), and (3) cross-marketing among the divisions.
I would add a fourth: (4) Limited Liability wynk
Brian
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Very interesting. Similar to the law business, large general law firms vs. boutique firms that specialize in one area of the law.
I guess the Heritage structure is beneficial for three reasons: (1) shared admin costs, (2) able to handle diverse consignments (estates, etc), and (3) cross-marketing among the divisions.
Mel, casinos are setup the same way. The casino floor is incorporated separate from hotel, food and amenities, each of which is incorporated as a separate entity. The table games are incorporated separately from slot machines as is poker.
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And yes, I thoroughly agree with your about EMP. Not only are the condition reports precise (if not better then described), but the shipping has always been beyond perfect.
Yes, if EMP was the only place to buy material from, I would be perfectly happy.
And they say bullets bounce off their packaging...