Poster lovers from far and wide came to Swann Auction Galleries on Oct. 25 for a sale of rare and important travel posters, setting eight records with bidding both in the room and on the phones.
The top lots of the sale were Emil Cardinaux’s snowy image for a winter getaway in St. Moritz and Philip Zec’s poster for travel to Scotland by night train, each reaching $17,500.
Numerous records were realized in the sale for both artists and individual works. W. Smithson Broadhead’s “Sea Breezes and Sunshine at Lytham St. Annes,” circa 1930, set a record for the artist, selling for $8,125. Further records for sporting and leisure posters included the circa 1925 “Gleneagles / The Tennis Girl” by Septimus Edwin Scott advertising the Gleneagles Hotel and Golf Resort, which reached $8,750.
Records for travel posters advertising American destinations include Adolph Treidler’s “New York / The Wonder City of the World,” 1927, realizing $13,750, double the previous record for the image, and Sascha Maurer’s “Atlantic City / Pennsylvania Railroad,” circa 1940, reaching $6,500.
Additional records were set by “The Belgian Coast,” 1934, by Jean Droit, with $7,000. “Savoy Hotel / St. Moritz,” a lively dining scene by Karl Bickel, brought $6,750. “Farman / École de Pilotage,” a circa 1920 aviation poster, “The Farman Aviation Works,” set a record for the image with $6,500, and Alexander Zhitomirsky’s “Georgian Military Highway,” 1939, reached $5,720.
Beach posters by Roger Broders proved popular, led by two posters featuring sun-worshiping women: “Sur la Côte d’Azur,” circa 1920, sold for $8,125, and “La Plage de Calvi Corse,” 1928, reached $7,500.
“Collectors dominated the highly curated sale, generating over half a dozen record prices for posters, many of which haven’t been seen on the market for years. It is always heartening when exciting and rare pieces sell well,” noted Nicholas Lowry, president and director of Vintage Posters at Swann.
The next auction of Vintage Posters at Swann Galleries will be held in February 2019.