As an old Evergreen Slug collector, I agree with those who say not to mount if it has, or is likely to accrue any value at all - and being signed, one would assume it may well be of value as well as difficult to replace.
Actually, the movie posters are fine - it's the collectors who approach caterpillar class, being almost as rabid as doll collectors!
Movie poster collectors will happily accept their posters being paper-backed with conservation-type paper, or being linenbacked - both techniques being said to be reversible where starch paste is used. (They have been sold on these techniques by the auction industry over the last 15-20 years - because linen-backing allows posters to be rolled and mailed easily, whereas most conservators would probably only agree with backing if the piece was fragile and in need of support - and then only if it was to be stored flat).
I don't wish to shunt the topic on to a sidetrack, but the original enquiry does raise an interesting question and I would love to hear everyone's solutions to this...
A customer wants to hang a movie poster which is -
(a) old, appealling and somewhat worn with the passing of time - in fact, it is ready to start splitting along the foldlines, so is in need of support, but...
(b) even though it would be quite difficult to replace, it is not valuable enough to send to a conservator, its market value being under $100.00.
So - what would you suggest to the customer? -
(i) refuse the task... or, after proper explanation and armed with the appropriate customer release, would you back it -
(ii) with starch paste to say, barrier paper or perhaps to 1-ply rag, in a vacuum press, or -
(iii) by another method?
To sum up - it's an old non-glossy poster, not terribly valuable, may or may not be signed (if so, let's say with biro or Sharpie) and it's becoming a little fragile. However, the owner loves it, wants to display his pride and joy and doesn't mind a reasonable cost to mount and frame it, but a conservator's fee alone would exceed its value.
NOTE - One of the most highly regarded US linenbackers uses starch paste and a vacuum press.
Go to it Grumblers - what say you?
Rod