Incredible Work by Poster Mountain

[CSM]

Should have censored out the blood 

[Simes]

Grief - that is beyond impressive.

Superb work.

[Lost Silents]

Bride of Frankenstein pressbook, restored in August, 2013. Front and back covers, showing before and after the restoration was complete.

More great work from John and Co at PM.  

Details of the entire process can be read (along with more great pix) here on their blog entry from Aug 19, 2013:

http://postermountain.blogspot.com/2013/08/bride-of-frankenstein-pressbook.html
 

Absolutely phenomenal. Does any one have any idea how much that would set someone back? I have an important 1920s paperback book I've been meaning to get restored (unless Charlie's up to it!)...

[erik1925]

Hi Julia,

I think prices can vary a bit and it pays to look around. PM will charge more a premium, from my experience, whereas other restorers of the same quality and caliber - Mario Cueva, for example at Lumiere Poster Restoration, (and both located in So Calif, where I am, hence these 2 examples), may be less. I found this out when getting some pricing estimates from each for the same item.

But both do very fine work, too, imo.

Jeff

[Neo]

Poster Mountain did a really good job restoring this Sarsaparilla poster.  

http://postermountain.blogspot.com/2014/07/how-do-you-pronounce-sarsaparilla.html

The soda, Sarsaparilla, dates back to the 19th century, and it's really incredible the advertising that companies of "miracle elixirs," sodas, etc. got away with, as they alleged to cure numerous ailments without any scientific proof.  Based on this timeline from the FDA, it appears that the poster was probably made before 1938.  It's an interesting piece of history.

[AjTheGreat]

I need to try out PM and Lumiere, I have a few posters I want restored soon.

[erik1925]

Great blog entry posted, Brandon.

That poster turned out very nice.

And it's an interesting piece of Americana, too.

[erik1925]

An entry from the PM blog.. with some nice recapping as well as a great selection of posters (film and vintage advertising) they have applied their restoration and linen backing magic to:  

http://postermountain.blogspot.com/2014/04/customer-thank-you-and-discount.html#!/2014/04/customer-thank-you-and-discount.html

[erik1925]

A 3 part entry from PM concerning the long and ongoing restoration of a 1927 US OS for the film, Women Love Diamonds. Made more tricky and challenging due to the amount of paper loss in the center of the poster, with no other OS or reference material on which to base the recreation of part of the dress worn by actress Pauline Starke, who graces the poster.

The work up to this point looks incredible, considering the condition the poster was in initially. 

Part I: http://postermountain.blogspot.com/2015/06/women-love-diamonds-episode-1.html

Part II: http://postermountain.blogspot.com/2015/07/women-love-diamonds-episode-2.html

Part III: http://postermountain.blogspot.com/

[brude]

Jeezum crow.
Talk about your magic acts.

[erik1925]

The latest blog entry from PM. And what a beautiful, Renault poster being worked on.

http://postermountain.blogspot.com/2016/12/renault-restoration-part-1.html



Looking forward to seeing the end result in Part II.

[AjTheGreat]

Wow definitely some great work there.

[erik1925]

These four "episodes" on the PM blog, showing the restoration work done on a US OS for a film called Women Love Diamonds (1927) is truly amazing to read and SEE, considering this project started back in June of 2015!

Some great looking work was done here on this long road.

Episode 1: http://postermountain.blogspot.com/2015/06/women-love-diamonds-episode-1.html

Episode 2: http://postermountain.blogspot.com/2015/07/women-love-diamonds-episode-2.html

Episode 3: http://postermountain.blogspot.com/2016/07/women-love-diamonds-episode-3.html

Episode 4: http://postermountain.blogspot.com/

From this:



To this:

[jayn_j]

Beautiful work, but it brings up the perennial question.  When over half of the poster is created from blank paper, is it still a restoration, or a recreation.

Before you answer, think about this.  I take one of those Dracula 1 sheets, cut it into 16 pieces and then create 16 copies, are they restorations?

BTW, I know we go through this periodically and never have a solid answer, so probably best to consider it rhetorically

[guest4955]

Gulp, reminds me of the Dead Sea scrolls:

[eatbrie]

Here's a question.  When is there too little of a poster to redo and still call it an original?  What I see in the picture above is that more than 1/2 the poster (or at least the most significant part) had to be redone.  So more than 1/2 is a repro.  Not worth it, imo.

T

[erik1925]

Yeah, the body (literally) of the the poster and Pauline Starke had to be re-created, so it does make for an interesting question, since such a large % had to be redone.

And I wonder if this was an only known copy of this OS?

But the end result sure turned out nice.

[jayn_j]

Yeah, the body (literally) of the the poster and Pauline Starke had to be re-created, so it does make for an interesting question, since such a large % had to be redone.

And I wonder if this was an only known copy of this OS?

But the end result sure turned out nice.

If it's the only known copy, then all the dress and background details would only be guesses.  If a real copy surfaced someday, then the guesses would be worthless.

[erik1925]

From the blog entry in Part II, it looks like not only is this an only known copy, but they could find no pressbook or other image to show what the complete poster looked like.

Here's how it looked when washed, but before any restoration was begun:

[Starling]

I, for one, am just happy pieces like this get saved at all.  One of a kind, and more great work from Poster Mountain!

[erik1925]

If it's the only known copy, then all the dress and background details would only be guesses.  If a real copy surfaced someday, then the guesses would be worthless.

But until then, if ever, it's better to have at least one copy, even if partially restored, so that it can be appreciated and seen, until that elusive, complete OS comes along.

[hepcatpunk]

Nice work---what does something like that cost to do?  I imagine there's a hefty price tag.

[erik1925]

Nice work---what does something like that cost to do?  I imagine there's a hefty price tag.

I would imagine that final cost is all based on the hourly labor/restoration charge. Currently, that hourly fee is $90.00/hr.

http://www.postermountain.com/pricing.html

So something like this, Im sure, added up to a very pretty penny and that doesn't include the backing charge.

I'd love to know how many hours were spent on this poster to bring it back to life.

[erik1925]

The latest from Poster Mountain and their work on this great looking US OS for the Laurel & Hardy flick, A Haunting We Will Go (1942)

Amazing, final results, once again.

http://postermountain.blogspot.com/2017/11/a-haunting-we-will-go.html

Backed only (at the start):




And after light restoration was completed:

[Simes]

What a cracking write-up.

I didn't know that one sanded paper...  I thought it was always with a scalpel or some such to get it smoothed over.

Also, I am amazed that border reparations would be anyone's favourite thing to do.  Adding a rectangle of paper to a long side would seem to be pretty mundane when measured against colours and artistry.

Thanks for posting here.