Rennie

I have a 1951 original Belgian film poster with the usual narrow (faded) white border on three sides. The upper border, for some reason is about 3" wide.

Can anyone advise me as to whether or not there is a correct way to frame? Should the white border be left exposed, and should a mount margin be incorporated.

Also, should the wider top border be retained so the poster is kept in its absolute original form, or is it acceptible to cut it back to match the other three sides?

I know at the end of the day it is a personal preference, but just wondered if there was a so called correct procedure for display.

DB7

Have a black frame on mine with the white border exposed but I think you're right in that it's personal preference.

cletus awreetus

I bought an original Martin Sharp poster "Blowing in the Mind" which had Bob Dylan surrounded by very dreamy psychadelic bubbles, printed on foil.
It will have been around 1974/75, and there was a rack full of them at Virgin in Manchester, priced at 50p each. I bought one intending to frame it and as the poster had rounded corners I trimmed them off to fit nicely into a frame.
Last year I sold it on ebay (sans frame) for £75. Had I not taken a scalpel to it, the value would have been £250+.
Motto: be careful before trimming as you never know how the value will increase!

Joe Fraguela

On the subject of posters, I have a collection of old Quad Posters 30 x 40 mostly from the 1960's. I would like to get a few of them framed. Can anyone point me in the right direction as to where I might obtain a suitable frame ?. Many thanks

Steve Crook

I agree with cletus, don't cut it. Keep it as original as you can, even if it's not well balanced. If you get a larger frame with a backing the same colour as the border it won't be very noticeable.

Steve

Steve Crook

There are quite a few framers that specialise in movie posters.

One big question is do you want to get it linen backed?
It's a nice way to display them and the acid-balance process they use to do it does preserve the poster for longer. But it's a one-way process. If a poster is just framed then you can take it out of the frame. But once it's been linen backed, you can't remove the backing

Getting a poster framed properly (professionally) can be a bit pricey. But when it's done right it will make the posted last longer and remain free from damage (as long as you hang it out of direct sunlight) so it's worth paying for.

Steve

Joe Fraguela

Hi Steve, many thanks for your reply and useful hints. I don't think I would want to get them linen backed as I can always swap the film posters whenever I want to. I will have a search on google to see whether there's a place that does these professionally. Many thanks once again.

Joe

Rennie

Thank you all for your advice. Much appreciated.

I certainly will not now be having it trimmed in anyway. I am still undecided about whether or not to have a mount surround, but think the suggestion of having one with a matching colour as the narrow border is an excellent idea. If a wide one is incorporated, I could then have an equal size border all around, by losing most of the posters top border under the mount.