1938 Dartmouth Winter Carnival Posters
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GUEST:
These posters belonged to my grandfather. He entered Dartmouth in '38, graduated in '41. I got these on two separate trips back up north to New Hampshire where they lived for most of their lives. I got the first one about 11 years ago, and then the second one surfaced about two years later, and both trips were to help, you know, clean out some belongings. I don't know where they were before I found them. They weren't protected. How they survived what had to have been 40 years in a basement or attic is beyond me.
APPRAISER:
As a Dartmouth student, was your grandfather a skier?
GUEST:
I assume you have to be, is what I've always assumed.
APPRAISER:
The carnival began, it was sponsored by the Dartmouth Outing Club, the DOC, began in 1911, and posters to promote the festival, really, they've only come to the public's attention as collectibles over the last 15 or so years. Prior to that, people either didn't know they existed or really didn't pay that much attention to them. The artists who designed these posters were all students at the school. So while they're each signed by the individual artists, they're not particularly famous outside of this one work. If you look them up in art databases, nothing comes up. These were students who had a great graphic mind, a great ability to put images on paper, but they must have gone on to completely different careers. Obviously the one nearest to me, we know the date. It's 1938. Now I have to tell you that for a long time, I thought that the poster next to you was from the 1937 carnival, because the gentleman's wearing a big seven on his chest.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
But then when you look at the actual dates, they're both February 11 and 12, they're from the same year. And I did a little bit of research and I turned up that they're both the 1938 posters. People like these posters because it reminds them of their time spent at Dartmouth, so many students kept them. People like these posters who didn't go to Dartmouth because they're such good skiing images. I mean the image nearest to me really portrays a sort of power and confidence, like it's a great image the way the skier is popping out of the poster. And much like your grandfather, students could get these at the carnival. They still produce them now, every year still, Dartmouth has their winter carnival, and every year still, posters are made. So that brings up the question of value. What are these worth? Any thoughts?
GUEST:
No, I honestly, I've looked around online a couple of times. Since I've owned these, I've not seen any for sale or sold, so I don't know.
APPRAISER:
Well, I can speak to the auction value of these pieces, and the current auction value, per poster, is $2,000 to $3,000.
GUEST:
Wow!
APPRAISER:
So a total of $4,000 to $6,000 for the pair. And if you notice, I said I can speak to the current auction value. These things have performed very, very well, historically, at auction. The poster closest to me, at its highest mark, sold for $8,000.
GUEST:
Wow!
APPRAISER:
And the poster nearest to you sold for $5,000.
GUEST:
I don't believe it.
APPRAISER:
I think the reason for that is, as more come on the market, people will realize they're not as rare as they originally thought. Remember I said these haven't been on the market that long.
GUEST:
Sure.
APPRAISER:
So the interest in them sort of surges until collectors realize that they're not all that rare.
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