GUEST: I brought a poster that was given to me by my aunt. She's actually my second cousin, but I grew up with her and so, we always called her my aunt. It's a French poster, I acquired it in about 1995.
APPRAISER: It is a wonderful French poster advertising mineral water. Eau minérale alkaline mineral water. And it's designed by a French artist, Marcellin Auzolle. This poster was printed in France. We see the French printer's name up along the side. But the product is Swiss-- it's Swiss mineral water from Montreux in Switzerland. I think they are scarlet ibises. Now, let me tell you what scarlet ibises have to do with Swiss mineral water and French graphic design.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Absolutely nothing.
GUEST: (laughs)
APPRAISER: The whole point of this poster was that it was supposed to be somehow comically jarring to the viewer's mind as they pass it on the street. It was supposed to immediately impart its message, which is, "Drink this water." And I think it would have very much achieved its purpose. The artist designed a lot of posters, and he designed posters over a very long period of time. So we don't even know an exact date of this poster, and I date it to around 1910, 1912. I found that in the last 20 or 30 years of auction records, it has not come up for auction once. So that does suggest that the poster is very rare. And in my estimation, if this came up to auction, it would sell for between $800 and $1,200.
GUEST: Okay. Well, it will definitely stay with me, because it's a great talking piece for my house, and we love it.
