Soviet Soviet Posters.

[Wild Card]

Hi Alex K,

Thank you very much for sharing this material with us - very interesting and well presented.

Best wishes,

Wild Card

[Alex K]

Hi Gentlemen, thanks for the compliments. It's pleasing to Know that sharing info is appreciated.

regards

Alex

[Knarf]

Hello,

I would love to see more posters. That is a very interesting topic and at the moment I am working on the poster collection. Unfortunately I do not speak Russian and several hundreds of posters are waiting for translation. They were found in Soviet camps in Eastern Germany. 4 of them are painted on metal plates and very heavy. The posters are dated from 1947 until 1992.

Besides the posters I found a lot of matchbox labels with propaganda prints.

There is an old shelter where a lot of handpainted posters is stored. I am now waiting for the permission to

take them away. It will be a very dangerous job because there is not a lot of oxygen to keep me going. But as a heavy smoker I will manage the problem.

Unfortunately as a second class member I can only send 150 kb so we have to wait for promotion. Then I will post some posters if somebody is interested.

So meanwhile let me have a look at your posters!!!!!!

Best Regards

Frank

[Alex K]

Hello Knarf, that seems an interesting find, please post some when you get the chance. It's nice to see that someone is trying to save these, instead of them being destroyed.

regards

Alex

[Knarf]

Hello Knarf, that seems an interesting find, please post some when you get the chance. It's nice to see that someone is trying to save these, instead of them being destroyed.

regards

Alex

Trying to save parts of the German and Soviet history causes a lot of problems. Posters are printed on low quality paper with low quality ink. The poster is a short living propaganda. So nobody cared about quality. The paper often contains acid. So it has to be handled very carefully. (using cotton gloves, storage under special conditions like certain humidity and temperature) Originals should never be under glass and in daylight for a long time. A lot of collectors will have problems with their posters after a time if they proudly present them in their living rooms. So a lot of posters and documents which have been saved will be destroyed in the future. The collecting is the unexpensive thing, the costs for preserving are extremely high. I have stored all items of the collection in containers which are used for the storage of Anti Tank Rockets. ( expensive, good climate and temperature and no insects) Problem: If you want to have a look at a certain item you need a forklifter.

Original Soviet posters are very rare and expensive. But there are some reprints which cost more than an original. During the cold war the British Army produced reprints of special sov. material in a very limited number for realistic training. When the Soviets turned from enemy to friend, these posters were destroyed. Only a few were left. They are really expensive if it is possible to get them.

Hope I did not bore you

Regards

Frank

[Alex K]

Hi Knarf, welcome to the forum by the way, no you havn't bored us, it is always interesting to hear about other "Not so obtainable" artifacts being salvaged, saved, call it what you will. As you have said, a lot of mundane every-day items which were produced had very little real value to them in the monetary sense, or even in a political sense, so were not collected or saved. It is, unfortunately, only when these items have been destroyed or otherwise lost that there becomes an appreciation of the ones that do survive. I certainly like the new use you have put for the anti-tank rocket containers

regards

Alex K

[Wild Card]

Gentlemen,

I do not know if you are aware of it or not, but there is a good little book out on this subject which was printed in Minsk in 1998 - see below.

Also, I remember that back in the late 1960?s there was a series of GPW era poster reprints on the market. They were standard size around 24?x36? and quite good quality. I do hope that some members can add additional material; and Knarf, please keep us posted on what sounds like an exciting adventure.

Best wishes,

Wild Card

[Alex K]

Here's a link to another site which shows some great soviet era posters, some very early

regards

Alex K

http://www.earthstation1.com/Russian_Propaganda_Posters.html