In The News

from Newton Magazine, June 2002

AMERICANS ARE GOING POSTER CRAZY, AND NEWTON'S NANCY STEINBOCK IS RIGHT IN THE THICK OF IT.

As a dealer in antique posters, her posters number in the thousands and collectors everywhere know it.

It has been an 18-year odyssey for Mrs. Steinbock who honed her childhood interest in antiques and ephemera into a thriving business.

Her love for posters was sparked as a child by her late father, Henry, himself a prominent antique dealer who did business in Brighton's old opera house, now an apartment building.

"My dad would gather valuables from estates and separate out the post cards, posters, trade cards, prints and books for me," she recalled. "He saw no value in paper stuffs."

Nancy loved prints of babies and children, especially those with Victorian settings. Her affinity for children is reflected in much of her current collection.

Many years of hard work in the poster field have paid off for the Steinbocks, who (Mrs. Steinbock is a Newton native) returned from Albany, NY to Newton three years ago. According to her, until the past several years, much of the trade in posters was with Europeans who have long appreciated the art value of posters.

"Posters now have moved into the mainstream in the United States," she pointed out. "We have all sorts of collectors here. It could be a particular breed of dog, for example." As a member of the International Vintage Poster Dealers Association, a group that authenticates vintage posters at poster fairs, she attends some 18 shows annually including the major poster fairs, paper and antique shows.

The popularity of posters has been stimulated by trendiness such as by the television show, "Friends". "In the last five to seven years the American consumer and businesses want posters," she said. Special categories include trains, airplanes and World War II.

Her own poster inventory includes of variety of the above as well as many 19th century posters. "My collection is eclectic," she said. "I suppose the reason is that otherwise I would get bored.

She displays beautiful posters from France where Toulouse Lautrec first popularized them. In a typical week, she recently sold an 1892 Ringling Brothers poster.

Posters first appeared as a means of advertising. They were designed to appear for a short period of time, many attempting to entertain. "To do a poster was expensive...sort of like buying an ad on television today. You had to hire an artist and a printer to start," she said. "Many, especially those for liquor, were designed to make you smile."

The advent of the internet has stimulated the poster business and, at the same time, allowed Mrs. Steinbock to attend fewer shows.

"I'm not sure what my father would make of all of this today," she said. "He'd surely be amazed to see that what he thought was worthless is now highly valued."