NEW YORK – On June 30 and July 1 New York City-based auction house Guernsey’s will be conducting an unreserved auction of arguably the finest collection of patriotic posters relating to World War I. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide absentee and Internet live bidding.
Roughly half of the approximately 2,000 posters are from the United States, with the balance reflecting the many different nations involved in the Great War.
Brooklyn-born Edward H. McCrahon was so passionate in his defense of the Allied nations that he joined the French Army two years prior to the United States entering the war. Once the U.S. became involved, McCrahon returned home, enlisted in the U.S. Army, and rose to the rank of colonel. However, it was during his stint in France when he first became riveted by the compelling graphics of war poster art.
After the war, McCrahon devoted his energies toward assembling what is recognized as the most extensive collection of war posters known to exist. By the mid-1930s the McCrahon Collection was widely exhibited and acknowledged in countless print articles, and even in Ripley’s Believe It or Not, as the finest collection of its type.
Many of the posters collected by McCrahon are the only known copies to exist today.
McCrahon’s grandchildren has consigned the collection to Guernsey’s. The sale will take place over two days with approximately 700 lots each day (some of the lots containing multiple posters).
For additional information contact Guernsey’s at 212-794-2280.
by Auction House PR
