1949 Pan Am "Bermuda by Clipper" Travel Poster
GUEST: It's a gift from my father, who was a Pan Am pilot from 1940 through, uh, 1975. And, uh, he made the acquaintance of a, uh, reservation supervisor. And the guy gave him a year's worth of posters like this.
APPRAISER: And how many of them do you have?
GUEST: I think we brought 14 with us and there's about three or four more that we've already given to members of the family.
APPRAISER: And yet you had this one framed and framed beautifully. Why-why-why this one?
GUEST: Because my wife said to. (both chuckle) That's the first thing. (chuckles) The intent for this was to be mounted in a bathroom that has similar coloring, and it seemed to fit perfectly. And we loved the colors. Plus the airplane, Boeing 377, which at the time was their most luxurious airplane flying.
APPRAISER: I am so happy that you are plane familiar because part of the glory of this poster is the aircraft itself. Boeing 377, uh, Stratocruiser.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: One of the most luxurious, double decker, inside, it was
the lap of luxury,
GUEST: Mmhmm.
APPRAISER: one of, one of Pan Am's great vehicles. I believe they flew from 1947 through 1963. Did your dad pilot one of those?
GUEST: No, he did not. However, I've ridden on one wi-with him en route to, uh, Europe one time. And it's, it is beautiful. There was a lounge, uh, first class lounge down at the bottom of the airplane. It was really nice.
APPRAISER: Amazing, yeah, they call it the golden age of travel.
GUEST: It was, yup.
APPRAISER: And that-that's really why. It was also the golden age of travel posters, and this is a Pan Am Airline travel poster from 1949. And it's by a Russian-American artist named Boris Artzybasheff. Uh, he did a lot of magazine covers, so "Time" magazine, "Fortune" magazine. He also did a lot of corporate work for Xerox, for Shell and for Pan Am. And this poster advertising travel to Bermuda, which depicts Bermuda as this verdant island in the midst of this delightfully azure blue ocean. We have the capital of Bermuda, Hamilton, indicated by the star. We have this, dare I say, sexy, mermaid sort of emerging from the water as the island does, almost em-embracing it. She's also holding these absolutely wonderful Bermuda Easter lilies. Now, what I don't see is that this poster should have white margins all the way around it, so perhaps when it was framed, those margins were covered over simply for aesthetic reasons. And I'm hoping that they're still there.
GUEST: They are.
APPRAISER: They are still there?
GUEST: So, we were told.
APPRAISER: Excellent
GUEST: (chuckling)Yes.
APPRAISER: (chuckling) So, so you're then so, and so you're telling me. So what is this piece worth?
GUEST: Hopefully, more than the frame. (chuckles)
APPRAISER: (laughs, clears throat) Begs the question, how much did you pay for the frame?
GUEST: About $700.
APPRAISER: $700? Mm. I admire how much you love your wife.
GUEST: (laughs)
APPRAISER: Uh, and how you do what she says, and I think that's great. Assuming that the margins are still here, at auction, I would estimate this piece between $8,000 and $12,000.
GUEST: Seriously? Wow. (chuckles) That's frightening. (chuckling) That a piece of paper is worth that much.
APPRAISER: If it turns out the margins aren't here, and what we see is what we get, it would still be a $4,000 or $5,000 piece.
GUEST: Wow, very impressive.
APPRAISER: yeah.
$8,000 - $12,000 Auction
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