It is a simple relic from a bygone era – the age of motoring, when there were only 2.5 million cars on British roads.But if predictions are correct, it seems that this advertising poster from the 1930s may have rocketed in value as much as the fuel which it promoted.
The Shell advert, featuring an image of the Bungay Buttercross, is expected to fetch around £1,000 when it is sold at auction.
Designed by London-born artist Harold Steggles, the poster is believed to have been designed in 1934, when a gallon of petrol cost one shilling
and fourpence halfpenny – a decimal equivalent of around 7p.
The Bungay poster is among 42 Shell advertising posters, mostly from the 1930s, put up for sale by a former Shell marketing director which are expected to sell for a total of around £17,000 at Christie's South Kensington in London on June 4.
Between the 1920s and 1950s, Shell commissioned artists to produce colourful, eye-catching posters and they included war artist Paul Nash and abstract painter Ben Nicholson, whose work is featured in the auction.
According to The Shell Poster Book, the posters were a form of mobile outdoor advertising.
It says: 'They were framed posters of a standard size, 30 inches by 40 inches, attached to the sides and back of Shell lorries delivering cans of petrol and oil to customers all over the country.
'In the 1920s, they had used placards and enamelled signs outside garages and along country roads until the company removed them in response to pressure from groups like the Council for the Protection of Rural England.'
Sophie Churcher, a vintage poster expert at Christie's, added: 'The Bungay poster was part of Shell's Everywhere You Go campaign. It was a slogan that appealed to a nation that longed for a rural escape from the city; advertising the delights of the British landscape whilst reassuring motorists of Shell's presence throughout the country.'
Do you have a story about old memorabilia? Email rebecca.murphy@archant.co.uk
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