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1942 Koehler & Ancona "This is the Enemy" Poster

Value (2017) | $4,000 Auction – $6,000 Auction
Watch  

GUEST:
In 2003, I went to a bachelor farmer's estate auction in northeast Iowa. He had about 25 years of early-century "National Geographics," which I collected. When the "National Geographics" came up, it was between me and another guy, and I think we both wanted the "National Geographics," but they had thrown a whole bunch of other boxes and mostly paper things together. In 2003, for $117-- I remember because I had $125, and I thought, "That's all I can go"-- I got the "National Geographics." But in the boxes, looking through, I got about 20 posters. And this is one of them. They've been kind of in my closet since then.

APPRAISER:
It is a World War II poster, and it was designed in 1942 by Karl Koehler and Victor Ancona. And in the sort of pantheon of imagery from Second World War images, this one is really one of the more haunting. They're trying to vilify the enemy, and the psychological concept behind that is, the more that we hate the enemy, the more willing we are to enlist and fight in the war. And so they say, "This is the Enemy," and they depict this weasel-like Nazi officer with his beaky nose, and in his very Germanic monocle, you see a man hanging from the gallows. Everything about it exudes nastiness, and yet it does it in a compelling way.

GUEST:
Right.

APPRAISER:
And it really does impress upon us the fact that this man is not a nice man. It's such a wonderful way to do a horrible image. It resonates for that. And when I say that it resonates, it doesn't just resonate with me. This image was entered into a very prominent national poster competition in 1942, sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. So not a fly-by-night institution, by any means.

GUEST:
Sure, sure.

APPRAISER:
And this was the winning entry. Now, when the government printed posters for the war effort, they printed tens of thousands of images to distribute all around the country. When the museum printed these, or when they were printed after the competition, we don't know how many were printed, but intuitively, it was a lot less. So this is much scarcer…

GUEST:
Okay.

APPRAISER:
…than other World War II posters. When this comes up at auction-- not in a military sale-- but when this comes up for auction in a poster auction, or in a graphic design auction-- which it does fairly frequently...

GUEST:
Okay.

APPRAISER:
...it sells for between $4,000 and $6,000.

GUEST:
Okay, oh, wow.

APPRAISER:
In fact, the high-water mark for this piece is $8,400, which it sold for in 2009.

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Appraisal Details

Appraiser
Nicholas D. Lowry
Prints & Posters
Swann Auction Galleries
New York, NY
Appraised value (2017)
$4,000 Auction – $6,000 Auction
Featured In
Junk in the Trunk 8 (#2226)
Event
St Louis, MO (July 08, 2017)
Category
Prints & Posters
Period
1940s , 20th Century
Form
Poster
Material
Paper

Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.

Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."

Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.

Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.

Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.

Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.

Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.

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