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Every collector have to face these questions:

1. "Does this poster worth the money?"
2. "What kind of poster will appreciate in value faster?"
3. "How will the defects of a poster affect its value?"
4. "Does posters published in earlier date worth more?"
5. "Should I always prefer rare posters to ordinary ones?"

Although there are no straight forward answers to such questions, there is still ways to gauge the value of posters. I want to reiterate that Chinese propaganda posters carry important cultural value which cannot be reflected only in terms of money. However, for general understanding and for ease comparison, it would be more convenient and efficient to interpret their value in money sense. In my "poster for sale" section, you can easily perceive that different kind of posters are differently priced. The question is, how do I determine the prices of those posters? In fact, there are certain points of consideration when I price a poster. the only factor which cannot be explained empirically is experience. When I described a poster as "rare", I was making judgment according to my own experience and knowledge gained in the past ten odd years. But apart from experience, I can still tell you the points to note in estimating the value of posters. You may always disagree with me, but please be understanding that I am only trying to share my experience with all fellow collectors. Every person may have their own preference. In extreme cases, one may only like anti-imperialism posters or say, Maoist posters and dislike all other kinds of CRPs. However, when you somehow need to sale your collection, you will have to face the more commonly accepted evaluation system. So, let's take a look at them together:

Factors Affecting the Value of a Poster	Details	Weights in % (totally 100%)
Graphical Appeal	Strong action (such as anti-US, anti-imperialism etc); with strong characteristic (such as huge crops and satellites etc. of the Big leap forward period); with Mao image; sometimes even a chubby poster can realize a high price simply because of its beautiful design.	40%
Title/Content	Titles are more important for experienced collectors because they tend to get samples of all important political events.	15%
Rarity & Year of Publish	Everybody want to get a unique poster, right? And in general, posters from the 50’s or earlier period are more rare to find.	15%
Condition	The main body of the poster should be intact (no missing pieces or too long a tear or serious creases); minor creases and/or damages on white edges are acceptable.	15%
Form & Size	The bigger the more expensive; special format are more valuable, such as 3-panel posters or long size posters.	5%
Artist	If by famous artists, especially artwork of them in earlier period of which the original paintings may have perished).	5%
Number of prints	Posters of small quantity are generally of higher value; test print, prototype or unpublished (sometimes withdrawn due to political reasons or as ordered by party leaders) are extremely rare.	5%

Real Examples
(The 3 samples are taken from my "Master Piece Section", you may refer to their bigger size photos and descriptions over their )

Factors	SU001	SU002	SU003
Factors
Graphic Appeal	40	32	32
Title/Content	15	15	15
Rarity & Year of Publish	15	15	15
Condition	13	13	15
Form & Size	-	-	5
Artist	-	3	-
Number of prints	3	5	5
Total Scores:	86	83	88