Antiques Roadshow

GUEST: Well, we brought in a World War II war bond poster.

About five years ago, I bought it at an auction in, uh, Nebraska, and we paid $400.

There was more, uh, military posters, but this one just... it pops.

It, it, it says, you know... (chuckles) we need to protect the future, more than anything.

APPRAISER: So, yeah, it's a World War II bond poster.

And the majority of all the bond posters that were created, were created by the U.S. government at the printing office in Washington, D.C. And in order to make propaganda effective, like, if they want to raise money to fight the war if they want to increase enlistment, they have to print tens of thousands of these and distribute them from coast to coast.

Because if you just print one "Buy War Bonds" poster and, and you put it up in Washington, 100 people will see it.

It's not, it's not going to be effective.

But this poster wasn't printed by the U.S. government.

Uh, this poster is one of the few privately printed posters during the Second World War.

And it was actually printed by Kroger Groceries.

And in 1942...

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: ...which is when this poster is from, Kroger actually designed five different posters to put up in their stores.

And this is important because, if the U.S. government was printing tens of thousands, Kroger didn't have as nearly as big a reach as the government, so they didn't print nearly as many.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: So compared to a regular war bond poster, which is almost literally a dime a dozen, this one is substantially rarer.

And not only is it rare, it's...an exceptional image.

It borders on American Surrealism.

And I defy anybody to look at this and not be like, "Oh, my God, don't-don't let this happen."

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: And-and even the sentiment, "Dear God, keep them safe."

It's schoolchildren, right?

The fourth-grade reader...

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: ...and the little girl is carrying an apple for the teacher.

These kids are going to school.

GUEST: Yeah.

APPRAISER: Like, this is an everyday thing.

Now, keep in mind, in the Second World War in England, there was a constant fear of gas attack from the Germans.

And children would walk to school with gas masks in their pocket.

They'd have gas masks in their desks.

There were gas masks for infants.

In America, it never quite came to that, because we were never invaded or bombed by Germany.

But this poster plays to that fear, this sort of primal parental fear that something bad could happen.

And it just... it's incredible.

It's a photograph that has been... brightly colored.

And... the look, the look of the little girl's eyes.

Ev-every little detail about it is... is amazing.

Which brings us to a question.

What is this thing worth?

GUEST: I have no clue.

Hopefully more than $400.

APPRAISER: I, I feel your hope.

GUEST: (laughs) APPRAISER: I do.

I feel your hope.

And, uh, I don't, I don't think you have to worry.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: This poster is not in great condition.

GUEST: No.

No.

APPRAISER: At some point, somebody Scotch Taped it to the walls.

Uh, and Scotch Tape is really acidic and it's begun to leave a mark.

You can see how the tape is browning and there'll be browning underneath, but that can be restored.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: The thing from a condition point of view, that, that really catches my eye, the colors are borderline perfect.

Like, it's as bright as the day it was printed.

The apple is shiny red.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: And generally speaking, in posters, the first color that fades is the reds.

And the reds are bright.

The colors are bright.

It has come up for auction...

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: ...several times, so I, I can give you a price based on its record at auction.

And currently, the auction value for something like this is $15,000 to $20,000.

GUEST: Oh.

(chuckles) Really?

(chuckles) That's great.

That's, that's unbelievable.

Wow.

APPRAISER: It is the most expensive World War II poster on the market.