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Grading vintage Bollywood posters

At Bollywood Movie Posters (BMP), each and every old Bollywood movie poster is thoroughly inspected before it is graded and certified to reflect its true condition.

We believe in a fair and transparent mechanism for grading the condition of our old vintage Bollywood movie posters.

Vintage Bollywood movie posters, unlike their Hollywood counterparts, were generally printed on thin stock paper. Further, most vintage Bollywood posters were lying forgotten in dingy warehouses for decades before they were discovered by collectors and sold in the antique market. As such, most vintage posters display a certain amount of wear which is generally corrected by using tissue tape on the reverse of the poster. Taping is used primarily as a corrective measure to fix cracks or minor rips in the paper. As our collection of vintage Bollywood movie posters is several decades old, some posters may show visible signs of paper decay & even minor tears or cracks on few occasions. Further, a few extremely rare and very old vintage Bollywood movie posters may have been restored back to display condition by using a significant amount of tissue tape applied carefully to the back to counter cracks and tears.

Before going into the grading of vintage Bollywood movie posters, it is important to understand the following:

Native fold lines – All original vintage Bollywood movie posters were folded after printing to allow them to be easily transported to distributors and cinema houses. Most vintage Bollywood movie posters have two folds (A few half sheet posters were folded in the middle – i.e. single fold. On certain rare occasions, posters were also three folded). As such, the fold lines will be faintly visible or clearly visible in most vintage Bollywood movie posters.

Paper aging – Vintage paper tends to show discoloration and fading over a period of time. As the vintage Bollywood movie posters in the Bollywood Movie Posters (BMP) catalog date back several decades, the posters will reflect visible signs of aging.

To provide a safe, transparent and most importantly dispute-free experience to customers, we have devised the following grading chart to specify the exact condition of each vintage Bollywood movie poster for sale on our website:

★★★★★ Auction Quality

This Five Star grade represents the highest or the best possible condition that a vintage movie poster can possibly achieve. All vintage Bollywood movie posters in our catalog bearing the Auction Quality grade come with the promise of zero tears, cracks, markings, pin holes or any other kind of visible damage to the poster. Native fold lines will still be visible though – as all original vintage Bollywood movie posters were folded after printing to allow them to be easily transported to distributors and cinema houses.

★★★★ Near Mint

This Four Star rating indicates that the vintage poster may exhibit the slightest of wear. This grade is generally used for vintage Bollywood movie posters with slightly worn or damaged borders. Creasing and discoloration along the border lines also falls under this category.

★★★ Average

This Three Star rating indicates that minor tissue tape has been applied to the back of the vintage Bollywood movie poster to fix small cracks or tears. Overall condition of the old Bollywood movie poster graded under this category is fair and there is no difference to the display quality of the same from afar. Closer inspection however may reveal the cracks and tears that have been fixed by using a small amount of taping applied to the reverse of the poster.

★★ Restored for Display

This Two Star rating is used for certain worn out or damaged vintage Bollywood movie posters that have been painstakingly restored back to display quality by using reasonable or significant amount of taping at the back. Even after restoration, these vintage Bollywood movie posters may have slight defects that can be spotted upon close inspection, such as visible crack lines or visible tear marks. As these minor imperfections may not be visually apparent from a viewing distance, they do not majorly interfere with the display worthiness of the poster. For a dispute-free buying experience, please study photographs of the vintage Bollywood movie posters marked with this grading very carefully before purchasing.

★ As Is

This Single Star rating is used to describe certain damaged posters that cannot be restored back to 100% display quality. Vintage Bollywood movie posters with missing pieces and large visible cracks fall in this category. While buying a vintage Bollywood film poster bearing an As Is rating from Bollywood Movie Posters (BMP), please keep in mind that all defects in the poster may not be immediately visible from the thumbnail photograph. Hence buyers should take their time to carefully analyze the vintage Bollywood movie poster by using the zoom feature on the Bollywood Movie Posters (BMP) website before placing an order.

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