WM Arte answers
What is an original Italian vintage poster worth, and how do you tell it from a reprint?
Prices depend on originality, condition, the image and its subject. The documented record for Marcello Dudovich is €100,000 (Cablé Confort Michelin, Aste Bolaffi, Turin, April 2024); strong Italian posters at New York auctions have sold for about $13,000–22,000. Reprints sell for a tiny fraction, so originality is the first thing to check.
Documented results: at Poster Auctions International (23 June 2019) Dudovich's Cordial Campari made $21,600, his Borsalino Marca Zenit $14,400 and Mauzan's Brixia $13,200; Swann sold Cappiello's Carnaval / Vinho do Porto for $18,750 in 2018, and a Dudovich Strega poster was reported at $17,000 at Swann in February 2022.
How to check: under a magnifier, a regular dot screen means offset printing while a random grain suggests stone lithography (though some period posters were printed offset); look for the printer's name in the margin, period paper and old fold lines. Linen backing is normal conservation, not a defect. Condition is graded A/B/C, but scales differ between dealers and auction sites, so compare within one scale.
Modern editions are a different thing. "Signed and numbered" tells you the edition size and that it was authorised; it does not tell you how it was printed. WM Arte's prints of Lihuà's work are digital prints on paper and are described as such; Galerie Martel editions are sourced from Paris with their details confirmed on enquiry.