Vintage Chinese propaganda postcard: "White Rabbits" Theater Play". C. mid-1950s.
To complete for the time being the issue of Chinese propaganda collectibles, and assuming that you're as fascinated with these relics as we are, let us examine the question of what to collect.
Posters might naturally seem more attractive, but genuine vintage Chinese items from 1950s-1970s might be rather difficult to obtain, and collectors should be very careful as the market is abundant with quality, often very sophisticated reprints imitating age wear; sadly enough, unscrupulous sellers may sometimes conceal that they are in fact selling replicas.
According to our survey of eBay, world's largest online auction, Chinese propaganda posters usually sell for anything between 7.00 in case of known replicas to dozens of U.S. dollars. In this context, one definitely must not be confused by the low auction starting prices of around USD 0.99 per poster, since some sellers of such items set the shipping price with obligatory insurance at a staggering USD 25.00-27.00!
A poster collection, no doubt, is a good and visually attractive investment but if you're embarking on such an enterprise consider that a single framed poster may look good on the wall but a poster collection requires storage space, restoration etc.
Postcards are like small posters and have several advantages: their very size, lower prices and the fact that one is by far less likely to encounter any replicas or reprints. While a collection of several hundred genuine posters would require serious investment and extensive storage space, a similar collection of postcards will easily fit into one or two albums. As to prices, the current range in most cases is between USD 8.00 to 20.00, with some exceptions in the down and upper layers, and it is fairly easy to predict that prices will rise within several years as they did since 1990s. Our auctions of Chinese propaganda postcards usually open at less than USD 10.00, which we feel is the right starting price.
Finally, as a great introduction to the subject of Chinese propaganda, its history, artists and symbolism which pertains both to posters and postcards, we heartily recommend the richly illustrated and informative Stefan Landsberger's Chinese Propaganda Poster Pages (see our Links section).
Posters might naturally seem more attractive, but genuine vintage Chinese items from 1950s-1970s might be rather difficult to obtain, and collectors should be very careful as the market is abundant with quality, often very sophisticated reprints imitating age wear; sadly enough, unscrupulous sellers may sometimes conceal that they are in fact selling replicas.
According to our survey of eBay, world's largest online auction, Chinese propaganda posters usually sell for anything between 7.00 in case of known replicas to dozens of U.S. dollars. In this context, one definitely must not be confused by the low auction starting prices of around USD 0.99 per poster, since some sellers of such items set the shipping price with obligatory insurance at a staggering USD 25.00-27.00!
A poster collection, no doubt, is a good and visually attractive investment but if you're embarking on such an enterprise consider that a single framed poster may look good on the wall but a poster collection requires storage space, restoration etc.
Postcards are like small posters and have several advantages: their very size, lower prices and the fact that one is by far less likely to encounter any replicas or reprints. While a collection of several hundred genuine posters would require serious investment and extensive storage space, a similar collection of postcards will easily fit into one or two albums. As to prices, the current range in most cases is between USD 8.00 to 20.00, with some exceptions in the down and upper layers, and it is fairly easy to predict that prices will rise within several years as they did since 1990s. Our auctions of Chinese propaganda postcards usually open at less than USD 10.00, which we feel is the right starting price.
Finally, as a great introduction to the subject of Chinese propaganda, its history, artists and symbolism which pertains both to posters and postcards, we heartily recommend the richly illustrated and informative Stefan Landsberger's Chinese Propaganda Poster Pages (see our Links section).
