Trying to find where to find vintage ad poster

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Rozmataz

Rozmataz

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Jun 13, 2002
Posts
2,773
Loc
Fingerlakes Region of NYS
I have a customer looking for a very specific poster (series) that are from Sterling Engine Co. (boat motors), Buffalo NY. She has seen them at a local restaurant.

Where would I find these since I have exhausted the Lieberman's data base along with art.com, allposters and several other online poster sites.

Any ideas welcome. Thanks,

Roz
 
The posters might be from the motor manufacturer. Have you checked with them? They could have been part of an advertising campaign.

[ 11-07-2003, 03:12 PM: Message edited by: JFeig ]
 
This isn't going to help Roz at all but, because this type of question is so common, both here and on HH, I'm wondering how much time and effort some of you will put into locating a print or poster for a customer.

After you've checked the usual sources and databases and searched through Google and made some phone calls, let's say you find it. You order a single print, you pay a hefty shipping and handling charge, possibly on top of a retail price to begin with.

When it arrives - if your customer still wants it - he may have it framed, or he may tack it up with thumb tacks, but will he be so dazzled by the service that you'll gain a friend for life?

The only time I'll go to that much trouble to locate a print is if I need a replacement for one I've damaged. :(

This isn't meant to be a criticism of you, Roz. I'm just curious about what other Grumblers do in situations like this.
 
Ron,

Point well taken! I have to confess I do less and less lately to do searches unless it is a really good customer or a customer I know is going to come thru with the whole project.

I have in fact, directed people to poster sites so they can search in their own time and environment because it is so time consuming. I usually give them the speech: "the poster costs will be the same but my framing prices are generally the same or lower than what may be offered by the poster site plus with me doing the framing, I guarantee it 100% and you get to choose exactly what you want and see it in person with no surprises"

Has saved some of the lookie lou problems!!

And Dermot has just forwarded some interesting results!! Thank you so much! I don't know if they are the exact images the customer is looking for.. but it is a great start.

The search continues...

Roz
 
Originally posted by Ron Eggers:


When it arrives - if your customer still wants it -
Click to expand...
I don't order it until the customer has paid for it.

As for how much trouble I'll go to ... I check the usual places. If I find it somewhere other than Lieberman's, I tell the customer where it's available and give them the option of ordering it themselves - or not.

Kit
 
I am with you Ron. I have spent way too many hours looking for a specific print only to have the customer say, "Oh, good!!! Now I know where I can get it!" And we never see them again. Or they insist that it is a certain size after I tell them the company that prints such and such poster only comes in this size and has not been printed in that size in recent years. Another one I have encounterd after I have found the poster is, "Oh, good, maybe I can find it on the internet!"

Only my very best customers get the time it takes to try finding something special. My employee always thinks that we should find every poster asked for because we will get the framing. Not!!! Some we get, but there seems to be a good number of customers that can't get those prints from their regular framer or something.

Maybe it is bad breath? :D
 
When my two kids were younger, and would sometimes come to the store on Saturdays with me, I would pay them - maybe a quarter an image - to search the catalogs looking for particular types of images for customers.

I learned my lesson when I had someone looking for a print of a ringneck pheasant. I had no idea there would be over 100 ringneck pheasants in my catalogs, and I paid my kids (who are clearly smarter than their dad) $25 to locate a $20 print. That was after filtering out the bogus hits. ("I believe that's a Canada goose.")

At least I got a framing order out of that one, but I immediately started looking for a more economical print database.
 
check out Wooden Boat Magazine. Probably something simply like www.woodenboat.com. Or google search antique wooden boats. I know Chris Craft Constellations are easy to find as are some older Trojans and others of that ilk; maybe this one will be easy too.
 
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