Posters were meant to be used, so often show some signs of usage. If a poster is rolled or folded is marked as such. Many original movieposters only exist folded, especially up to the 80s most were sent folded to movie theatres already.

Some say small defects add to the charme or history of a vintage poster (defects are taken into account in the asking price of course), others mostly look for perfect condition copies, which can be a difficult task due to the rarity of many, especially older posters. Posters can also be restored (linen or paper-backing).

We use these international standard shortcuts for poster grading (near mint-very fine-fine-very good-good-fair). Additionally please look at the enlarged image if one is available/was uploaded yet. If you want a more detailed description please ask.

near Mint:

Generally unused in perfect condition, may have the slightest of storage wear. Often unfolded, if folded the folds are very clean without additional wear. Sometimes a very Fine poster can also be near Mint as in the past we used very Fine as the best condition grading!

very Fine:

Can have minimal wear / signs of use (small pinhole marks, slight fold wear if folded, small border tears) Sometimes a very Fine poster can also be near Mint as in the past we used very Fine as the best condition grading!

Fine:
A poster with some general usage wear such as some border tears, pinhole marks, or small tape marks, and/or some fold wear if folded. Not severe, still fine for presentation (framed) or for collecting in general.

very Good:

A used poster with some of the following defects: Pinholes, tears, light wrinkling, tape marks, stains, or minor paper loss (crossfold or a corner chip) may occur.

good:

Good: Significant wear / signs of usage. Possible paper loss, tape, tears, stains, or fragile paper in general. May still be presentable if framed or needs to be restored/backed.

fair:

Below average, major defects. Usually we don't deal with items in this condition.

Linen-Backing (LB):

This process is most common for the preservation of movie posters at this point. A linenbacked poster is easy to handle, can be rolled and also perfect for framing. The poster has usually been double-backed, first to a thin acid-free paper and then to stable cotton canvas. It usually also gets deacified in the process and cleaned. Restoration such as tape and stain removal, replacement of missing paper, touch up at foldlines etc. are also done during the process. If you want to have a poster linenbacked you are interested in from our inventory please ask, but note it can take some time and additional costs are involved. We don’t do this ourselves but send it to our professional restorer, either in France or the US. For costs please inquire (for example from 80 Euro for a US 1sheet upwards depending on condition/work that has to be done). Part of our linen-backed posters were acquired on linen already, others we had linenbacked mostly because of condition issues.