New Parker Posters

[Robert Delk]

I have a friend, who is a published commercial artist, and we are kicking around the idea of making a poster to feature the Parker shotgun. Looking for ideas for a theme. I kinda like a large high grade gun slanted across the front with oval vignettes in the background showing the different sporting use for a shotgun. I favor an art deco flavor circa the late 20's or 30's.I'm going to do it regardless of interest but if there is interest will sell at cost to members of PGCA.This guy is very good by the way. What size would be popular? I kinda like the big format of the 50's Winchester posters.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

If you want to sell a bunch of them and create something that will retain value over time I'd forget the idea of something new. Do a high quality reprint of the wood duck poster and you'll have just what I'm talking about.

Destry

[Bill Murphy]

Destry is right, I think. There are some Parker items that 98% or Parker collectors have never seen. The wood duck poster is one of them. It is a beautiful poster, long talked about but seldom seen. A high quality reprint would be a piece of cake. Original size format, with a minor change to eliminate confusion in the future, would be my choice.

[Robert Delk]

I want to do something original to avoid the issue of confusion in the future. I have never seen an original wood duck poster just pictures.Making money is not on my mind.I just want something really different that captures the allure of the gun and a sense of the times.Parker shotguns are still viable and I think a contemporary poster is in order.Just sort of a celebration of their being.I am open to other ideas though. Thanks for the suggestions.

[Thomas L. Benson Sr.]

I would be interested in one and I have some of the 1920's and 1930's old calenders and love that kind of stuff. I won't offer advise on what it should be or shoudn't be other than count me in and get er done. Thomas

[Jeff Mayhew]

Okay, I'll bite: Can some kind soul post a picture of the elusive "wood duck" print??? My Google image search came up empty. :corn:

Thanks!

[Jeff Kuss]

Jeff ,
It is shown in Parker Story if you have a copy. Second book if I remember correctly.

Jeff

[Jeff Mayhew]

Thanks Jeff! I don't have a copy, but have been looking for an excuse to get it!

[Jeff Kuss]

Ok,Jeff I did a quick scan.

[Jeff Mayhew]

Thanks Jeff! I want a high-quality reproduction of the whole calendar. :corn:

[Destry L. Hoffard]

There doesn't have to be any confusion, just make some minor change in the design to let future collectors know it's the reprint. Or add your name in tiny script around the border, something like that. I just remember the lack of sales on the PGCA Calendar that we did a few years ago. In the end, the design was put together poorly to save money and it really didn't fly. I just think of the reprints of the squirrel poster that sell for $100 and think a reprint of another great vintage piece would probably be the same in the future.


Destry

[Kevin McCormack]

And let us not forget 'The Clown'........

[Bill Murphy]

:rotf::rotf:

[Bruce Day]

Robert, good luck with the poster project. I've always believed a poster to be worthwhile, but various approaches have been tried by the PGCA with disapointing results. We have done two, one poster and one calendar, the subject matter and style of which were decided upon by committee, as we were obligated to do when acting on behalf of an organization of members with various views. Although the membership said in pre-publishing polls that they would be interested, and we took that poll to mean that we would be successful in the calendar offering, we sold few of them at $25, which included a very modest profit and mailing/shipping costs. We had a large surplus and ended up giving them away. Calendars are time sensitive and gave us a narrow window for success. The previous item was the Tarnation poster, which was not time sensitive and again, a poll showed great interest among the membership. We ended up with a large surplus and ended up giving them away. Maybe our poll methodology was faulty, maybe our subject matter was off, but in each instance, bright and thoughtful people went into the projects with the best of intentions.

In another approach, Ed Muderlak privately printed a large number of reproductions of the vintage Parker squirrel poster. They were well done and I have one, but he told me he had overestimated the interest on the basis that he was interested, so he believed others would be. He also ended up with a large surplus after an initial offering, which it took years to sell. Mr Muderlak also re-printed Parker catalogs and ended with a large surplus that took years to reduce and he finally gave them away. He used to complain that the market in Parker paper was not as great as he believed as it would or should be despite the stated interest of members that talked to him.

I am not a printer, but I felt that if an on order/as required print method could be developed then a project of unknown volume might be successful, but with the economies of the print profession as explained to us, that was not to be. In our case, we were interested in Parker posters/calendars, the people that responded to our polls were interested and we thought they were representative of others who did not respond. In retrospect, we were mistaken and the interest was much narrower than we thought. I and several others were leaders in those efforts; maybe you can do better, but it was not for lack of trying and best intentions on our parts. Our print consultant was a PGCA member print business owner who advised us of the methods and economies of production.

[Robert Delk]

I'm gong at it with the intention of coming up with something that appeals to my artistic sensibilities and taste. I imagine it will appeal to others and I am not going to worry about making my money back but just with coming up with something that will get your attention, whether you are a Parker person or not.I guarantee you there are a lot of people that have posters that depict subjects that they are not interested in per se but reflect their taste in design and color.

[Mark Ouellette]

Robert,

On the wall above my desk is last year's LC Smith Guns calendar displaying photos of the Admiral Perry Grade 5 (restored). I understand that the photographer Terry Allen won an artistic award for the photography. Jent Mitchell can provide the details on the award.

Mark

[Robert Delk]

I might add that I have had good results selling other posters when I framed them and offered them for sale with the easel that I used for displaying them.I have sold quite a few of the Winchester posters and recruiting posters that I had after someone telling me that they were too big. I made nice walnut frames to an original design and that were very strong to hold together with rough handling. The easels were walnut and very simple and sturdy also. I never brought home a poster or easel from a show whether I intended to sell it or not.I still wish I had the WW1 signal corps poster back,but the lady insisted she had to have it even after I priced it way over what I thought it was worth.

[Eric Eis]

Hope you make the Wood duck calender poster. The one that PGCA did were not what people wanted and they were told that before they started production of them. It's too bad

[Bruce Day]

Hope you make the Wood duck calender poster. The one that PGCA did were not what people wanted and they were told that before they started production of them. It's too bad

Success has a thousand parents and failure is but an orphan.

The PGCA board appointed a committee of directors and interested life and annual members, which then proposed several designs for comment. We had lots of comments and being artwork, many people had many ideas. The final design was from a consensus of people who wanted to be involved. While failure is an overstatement, both projects were not the success that they were expected to be, nor was Muderlak's squirrel poster reproduction the success he expected. People always have their pet ideas, the difficult part is getting people involved in a project and carrying it through to completion. The final result of the calendar was not what I had in mind when we started, nor was it Destry's, who was on the committee, nor was it anybody else's , and I understand it is easy to criticize in retrospect from people who shied away from involvement at the time. We were trying to satisfy many people while considering cost.

With that experience, I would never again be involved in a PGCA organization print/poster/calendar project. There are too many views to satisfy and too much criticism. A couple of us who have some nice guns have talked privately about doing like a Christmas calendar between us with monthly pictures of good guns, but for me never again with a large art project.

Bruce Day, Parker non expert and art dunce

[Robert Delk]

I'm not sure what a large project would be.I'll see what the costs are and have this printed accordingly.I do know that a framed and ready to hang print is much easier to sell to discerning clientele and I think Parker people are assuredly that.I'll keep everyone posted via this forum.