Vintage British travel posters dating back more than a century sell for thousands of pounds at auction

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Bonnie Christian16 November 2019

Rare vintage travel posters that were designed to entice travellers to Britain, some dating back more than 100 years, have fetched thousands of pounds at auction.

The posters were aimed at American visitors and released between 1914 to 1955.

Swann Auction Galleries in New York sold the artworks Thursday night, collecting between $938 and $7,250 for individual posters. ​

For the Zoo/Underground by artist Maurice A. Miles​ fetched the highest price at $7,250.

For the Zoo/Underground
Swann Auction Galleries

The earliest poster, a strikingly graphic view in green by Paul Reith, promotes Box Hill in Surrey and the local bus route. It sold for $1,300.

Paul Rieth, Box Hill Motors Bus, 1914 
Swann Auction Galleries

The best known of the designers, Terence Cuneo, was the British artist who was appointed as the official artist for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and who is celebrated for his dynamic travel posters featuring railways, boats and other engineering feats.

His poster, Clear Road Ahead / British Railways, from 1949, featuring workers on the railways, sold for $2,000​.

Terence Cuneo, Clear Road Ahead / British Railways, 1949
Swann Auction Galleries

Gyrth Russell, a Canadian who worked as an official war Artist in the First World War, specialised in designing Railway posters between the wars.

His Great Western Railway / Stratford-upon-Avon from the 1930s sold for $938​.

Royal Tunbridge Wells, made in 1939
Swann Auction Galleries

Artist Christopher Clark's Trooping the Colour poster, made in 1955, sold for $1,500 at the auction.

While Kenneth Shoesmith's Royal Tunbridge Wells/Southern Railway poster, made in 1939, sold for $2,080.

Trooping the Colour, made in 1955

The sale, which marks 20 years of Travel Posters at Swann Galleries, features rare examples from countries all over the world.

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