Sale 2484 - Vintage Posters, August 1, 2018

poster bore a depiction of the crown of King George VI at the top as an indication that the messages came from the King himself. The third, and now most famous, of these slogans was kept back in anticipation of a truly horrific incident, such as the invasion of Britain by German forces or a severe air raid. Since the expected German attack never materialized, and because the first two posters had been met with such derision, “Keep Calm and Carry On,” was never posted and was kept in storage for years. After the war, the remainders were scrapped for their pulp. Contemporary reports cite that almost two and half million copies of the poster were printed. An HMSO (His Majesty’s Stationery Office) printing slip order form for the job breaks down that number, showing that the poster was printed in 12 different sizes, and that in this 30x20 inch format, only 496,500 were printed (ibid.). [12,000/18,000] Lot 108 (continued) 108