Thursday, February 11, 2010

Collecting Vintage Images Of Pretty And Fashionable Women

Romantic Victorian Collectors
Love Vintage Images Of Pretty Woman


Vintage images of pretty women sell very well in antique shops and on-line. Old prints, postcards, book covers, calendar art and book pages of beautiful ladies are of special interest to Romantic Victorian and cottage collectors . These are the same gals (and some guys) who adore lots of roses, lace and floral china.

Buying Book Covers With Pretty Women

Be on the look out for book covers with graceful and fashionable women; plumed or decorative hats and elegant dresses.

Many Collectors Are Just After The Cover Art

Often, even if if the inside pages of a book are tattered or dog eared, an intact cover is what the gals are after. The cover should have a clear image with minimal yellowing an be free of tears, spotting, discoloration.

Book Pages Of Elegant Women


Book Pages of lovely ladies (see first image shown) , as well as old magazine images are very attractive to buyers. Never throw out a book or magazine that is falling apart. You can always salvage the inside pages and sell separately.

Postcards With Pretty Images of Women

Postcards with women are fairly easy to find. You will of course see many of these images associated with vintage Valentine postcards. But those are not the only cards to focus on. While serious postcard collectors are always evaluating postcards for rarity, age, condition, quality of the illustration, importance of the artist etc. , Romantic Victorian collectors may not be as fussy.

Using Images In Collage Art

Many casual collectors are simply looking for a pretty image to frame and display and are not as critical about the images they find. And even slightly damaged book pages, postcards and calendar pages are still be of interest to many buyers who like to use these prints in collages, mixed media projects and decorating.

Famous Illustrators of Calendar Art

Prints fall into the category of illustration art which boomed with the improvements in printing and engraving in the late nineteenth century. Now it was possible to make reproductions of an artist's works and many companies saw this process as a good advertising tool, Calendar art prints of beautiful gals is very collectible.

The original drawings of artists are very hard to find and not the subject of this post. It is estimated by some that almost 90 per cent of original illustrations were actually thrown out by magazines or advertising agencies. Once the artist delivered his work to his client, such as a book company, advertising agency,or magazine publisher, the artist never saw the original drawing again. What you generally see when you shop on-line or in stores are prints of an artist's original rendering. But buyer beware, even the prints have been reproduced further and so be sure you are buying vintage and not a modern version of an image. You will find people on eBay for example selling CD's of old images.

Vintage Illustration Artists

Some noted illustrators of pretty women images are: Rolf Armstrong (1189-1960), Howard Chandler christy, Haskell Coffin (1878-1941), John Bradshaw Crandell (1896-1966), Harrison Fischer, Charles dana Gibson, Adelaide Hiebel (1886-unknown), Zula Kenyon (1873-1947), Gene Pressler (1894-1933) .

Values

The images shown in this post range from $8.00-25.00. Prints of noted artists framed can sell for $45.00-125.00 and more.

Images show here are from my book: Hot Cottage Collectibles for Vintage Style Homes (Collectorbooks.com)

Read More:

Vintage Illustration by Rick and Charlotte Martin

Vintage Illustration: Discovering America's Calendar Artist 1900-1960

C. Dianne Zweig is the author of Hot Kitchen & Home Collectibles of the 30s, 40s, 50s and Hot Cottage Collectibles for Vintage Style Homes. She is also the Editor of Iantiqueonline.com an actively growing internet based resource community for people who buy, sell or collect antiques, collectibles and art. You can find Dianne’s fabulous retro and vintage kitchen, home and cottage collectibles at The Collinsville Antiques Company of New Hartford, CT, a 22,000 feet antique emporium with an in-house retro cafĂ©.

To read more articles by C. Dianne Zweig click on this link:
C. Dianne Zweig’s Blog Kitsch ‘n Stuff

Email me at dianne@cdiannezweig.com

Visit my website, CDianneZweig.com

Dianne is a member of:
The American Society of Journalists and Authors
The Authors Guild, Inc.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for the inclusion to the Top 10 Junk Collector Blogs. We are thrilled, if you could see us right now, you'd see a couple of chunky gals dancin all around the room screamin!!!

    Linda & Dixie
    The Funky Junk Sisters

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  2. Hi Dianne, just dropping by to say hello. I definitely only look for old books with interesting covers to use strictly for home decor. I really bought a tattered one the other day but the cover was just delightful!

    ~ Lynn @ theVintageNest

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