To the best of my knowledge the original posters were printed in B&W. The auction item is a much reduced reproduction. The orignal resides in the Batavus Museum in the Netherlands and is a very large 36" x 49". The same artist produced another poster for Massey-Harris, at about the same time. Lorne Shields has an original print of the Massey Harris poster in his collection and it is also in B&W. It's worth noting that both posters were commissioned by a French importer, indicating the international distribution of CCM brands ar the turn of the century.
Thanks for that info T-Mar. With the domination of British and American makes at the time, it's odd to think of a country like France importing Canadian bikes. Massey-Harris liked to proclaim themselves as the "largest farm implement maker in the British Empire," which gave them name recognition in places like Australia, but Brantfords in Paris? - very interesting! One wonders how many turn of the century Canadian-built bikes remain in barns, basements or museums in far corners of the world.
While the business connection between Canada and other Commonwealth countries seems readily apparent, we often forget about the ties between Quebec and France. Certainly, the French speaking employess at the Montreal sales offices would have facilitated correspondence. A Montreal based employee may even have had family and/or buisiness ties that prompted the affiliation.
Paris was also a very popular vacation destination around the turn of the century. Perhaps some executive combined business with his wife's vacation plans, in order to get a company paid vacation? I'm sure it wasn't the first time something like this had happened.
Of course, this is all speculation but one thing is certain. After the big market crash circa 1898, the surviving companies were looking at every possible market for possible sales. Rather than asking, "Why France?", given the domestic market conditions, the better question might be, "Why not France?".
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To the best of my knowledge the original posters were printed in B&W. The auction item is a much reduced reproduction. The orignal resides in the Batavus Museum in the Netherlands and is a very large 36" x 49". The same artist produced another poster for Massey-Harris, at about the same time. Lorne Shields has an original print of the Massey Harris poster in his collection and it is also in B&W. It's worth noting that both posters were commissioned by a French importer, indicating the international distribution of CCM brands ar the turn of the century.
Thanks for that info T-Mar. With the domination of British and American makes at the time, it's odd to think of a country like France importing Canadian bikes. Massey-Harris liked to proclaim themselves as the "largest farm implement maker in the British Empire," which gave them name recognition in places like Australia, but Brantfords in Paris? - very interesting! One wonders how many turn of the century Canadian-built bikes remain in barns, basements or museums in far corners of the world.
While the business connection between Canada and other Commonwealth countries seems readily apparent, we often forget about the ties between Quebec and France. Certainly, the French speaking employess at the Montreal sales offices would have facilitated correspondence. A Montreal based employee may even have had family and/or buisiness ties that prompted the affiliation.
Paris was also a very popular vacation destination around the turn of the century. Perhaps some executive combined business with his wife's vacation plans, in order to get a company paid vacation? I'm sure it wasn't the first time something like this had happened.
Of course, this is all speculation but one thing is certain. After the big market crash circa 1898, the surviving companies were looking at every possible market for possible sales. Rather than asking, "Why France?", given the domestic market conditions, the better question might be, "Why not France?".