Most students have probably noticed the vintage Winter Carnival posters lining the walls of Collis and Thayer, but they may not realize that these posters amount to several thousand dollars worth of Dartmouth history.
Swann Galleries, located in Manhattan, has been selling old Winter Carnival posters annually for several years. The gallery's last auction on February 3rd sold nine posters. One Carnival poster from 1947 sold for $4,600.
"That's a world-record price," Lowry said
Most auctioned posters sell at the $2,000, according to Lowry. "The three, four thousand range is truly spectacular," Lowry said.
Lowry attributed the high price of the 1947 poster to it never having been offered for auction before.
"By the end, it was two people bidding on it tooth and nail," Lowry said.
Lowry guessed that wealthy Dartmouth alumni are the people bidding on the posters.
"Certain buyers return year after year," Lowry said. "There are at least three people trying to amass large collections."
According to Lowry, the ages of people interested in the posters vary widely.
"The demographic is all over the place," Lowry said. "The ages of bidders ranges from 25 to 65 or 70 years old."
The younger bidders probably just think they look interesting, while older bidders are the more serious collectors, Lowry added.
The number of carnival posters up for sale is likely to increase in the next few years, predicted Lowry.
"When more people see that the posters might be worth something, they start searching in their attics and so forth for them."
While Lowry admits that the $4,000 range may be inflated, he predicts that they will continue to sell at around $2,000 as more people become interested in the posters.
"People get excited about these things, especially when they haven't seen them before," Lowry said.
In general, there is a high demand for vintage ski posters, especially from the first half of the 20th century when recreational skiing was just beginning to become popular. According to Lowry, that may account for some of the high price posters. He pointed out that two Dartmouth Winter Carnival posters without ski images did not sell.
Though there is high demand for ski posters in general, the demand for college carnival posters may be more limited to Dartmouth alumni.
"There was a very old, very rare poster for the 1935 UNH winter carnival which no one bid on," Lowry said.
Vintage Carnival posters have been hanging in Thayer and Collis Halls for at least 20 years, said director of Dining Services Tucker Rossiter.
"I'd like to encourage students not to steal posters off the walls," Rossiter said, referring to an incident in 2002 where a Carnival poster valued between $500 and $1,000 was stolen from Collis.
Dining Services does not plan to cash in on the posters any time soon, according to Rossiter.
"We aren't going to part with them," Rossiter said, "They aren't something we would auction off."
Earlier this week, the Programming Board sold Carnival posters it had amassed from the past 20 years at five dollars a piece.
While posters from the past two decades may not be worth much now, Programming Board chair Dan Hui '05 pointed to the possibility that they might appreciate with time like those from earlier decades.
"I hope everyone takes care of their posters," Hui said. "It's a nice keepsake for the good times they had in college."
