Linen backing error?

John

Can you spot the error with this poster? Looks like someone made the wrong call with linen backing ...

Matt

Added the blank area up top?

John

Yes. The original daybill was 30 inches long. Someone must have thought that there should be a large blank border at the top similar to long daybills. Maybe they were confused by the RKO daybills being full bleed.

Its a pity because I think the poster has been devalued by adding a large border that shouldn't be there. Not the first time this has happened. Do you think the mistake devalues the poster?

Matt

Not really. Trim it down and framed, who would know. That's what I would do if I wanted to buy it. Look at the poster..not the mistake.

David

Matt said:

 Look at the poster..not the mistake.

Would explain why there are no mirrors at your house.

John

Anyone else have any opinions on this? Does it matter if a linen backer adds borders to a poster by mistake? Other examples are Its a Wonderful Life (borders wrongly added), Rebecca (reissue 13 x 30 daybill made to look like a long daybill)

David

IMHO it does matter, because it is supposedly being restored to be like the original -  but as it is fixable probably not as bad as some things.

Tying to remember if I have ever seen It's A Wonderful Life Daybill with borders - I know the measurements are short for the period so I can see how they get it wrong; I've seen Heritage also refer to it as a trimmed poster (when of course it wasn't).

theartofmovieposters

Would matter to me too...and I am not really (I think) too anal regarding condition.

I can't imagine it would be a cheap poster?  Not really my thing so no idea, but if that is the case...I would be thinking quite seriously about purchasing it knowing that I would have to get something undone, which didn't need to be done in the first place...valuable poster buying dollars!

John

Apart from being an important boxing poster, it is also a signed example of Norman McMurray's artwork. He did the art for a lot of posters in the 30s but this shows he was still designing posters in the mid 40s.

I think it is possible that someone purchasing the poster might not realise it has been altered and they would be justifiably disappointed when they eventually found out.