The Vintage Portal Publications, Ltd (artist, artwork, best, work)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
One of the framed posters on my walls is "Midnight" by Jeannie Winston-Davis. It shows a unicorn in the forest with a rabbit and other animals. It was popular during the 80's, you can catch a glimpse of it, I think, in the flick "Private School" (1983), and trying find an image of it on the Net even with title and artist information is like it never existed.
How can that be?
It seems like that the Vintage Portal Publications Ltd of Corte Madera CA, the publishing company of the poster is now entirely in the hands of etsy, ebay, amazon, and other such companies.......and any other writings about the company have been erased.
Anyone have any details of the company, other than remaining stock anywhere, and how such a print could be so invisible?
Oh, and my copy will probably be up for sale at the estate sale.
Jeannie Winston-Davis (that's the name, not Jeannie Winston) is not coming up. If that is her, then her style has changed massively. ......... I don't think it is her.
It is more of a question of what seems to have been a rather popular company, popular posters of the 80s are now like.....they never existed.
Sigh, I guess some things, like the works of the Hildebrandt twins, like "Angel of the Gods" (Unicorn, maiden, probably not safe to link here) have staying power through time......and other works, don't.
That's the print I am talking about......and it seems it's one of those things that is virtually impossible to find on the Net.
The point of this thread, however, is not finding the print. It is does anyone have background information about the publishing company to why it is such untraceable history.
Last edited by TamaraSavannah; 12-14-2018 at 08:49 AM..
The printing company who printed the artwork could have done it as a contract with a wholesaler who specializes in selling framed prints to furniture stores. When that happens, it's the wholesaler's name on the back of the print, if there's a name at all. The printer becomes as anonymous as the company that made the print's frame.
"Vintage Portal" could be just a name the printing company had and used for art prints. The name of the company could be quite different. "Vintage Portal" could have been used by the wholesaler as well.
Since you have the town where the company was located, you could always try a search in the county clerk's office for information on the company. But a record search probably won't tell you anything about whether or not the company still exists.
If it closed, other companies or individuals may have purchased their un-sold stock to sell on etsy or E-bay. The stock itself could have passed through several hands before it was offered on those sites.
Another possibility is "Vintage Portal Publications" simply changed its name and is still in existence. It could still be in operation under a different name. That's pretty common when a company changes hands and goes into new ownership.
A clerk's office record search may or may not provide that info. But even if the company still exists, under new ownership, it's typical a lot of old records are dumped. You never know until you go hunting.
Doing a search in a county office can be difficult. There are a lot of local laws that pertain to these searches, and while the records are all supposed to be public, unless you actually go to an office and request a search, and do it yourself, it's hard to say what is easy to find or not. Unless there's an official reason for a county employee to go searching, most clerks won't be of much help in a casual inquiry.
If you don't do it yourself, one will either cost you money or may be refused. Or both.
There are internet sites that do these searches, but none of them do it for free that I know about. Some of the best are only available by subscription. But if you want to spend the time and/or the money, you could probably track the company's history down.
Last edited by banjomike; 12-15-2018 at 01:34 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
