1873 Wanted Poster

[coydog]

Been looking for some time for one of these. The ones i have found at auctions never list them as being the same size. Some are framed so i dont know if they are counting the frame or not. The one that i found is smaller than some of the ones i have seen pics of. Its the size of a reg sheet of paper. The paper looks old so i dont really know if i have the real thing or not. I found it at a antique store online and recieved it today. I knew they were put in some magazines but the closet i came was American Rifleman had a write up on the movie and the search but no poster or they were taken out at some point. Here is a picture of the one i got.

mail.jpg

[20cows]

I can't get the attachment to open.

[earlmck]

coydog, you've got the picture sized so small we can hardly see it, at 94 pixels wide. If you'll make the width somewhere close to 1000 pixels it'll show big enough we can see what you've got there. And it does look interesting.

[coydog]

Is that any better? Still learning on this picture posting plus my phones camera is not that great.

[earlmck]

Is that any better? Still learning on this picture posting plus my phones camera is not that great.

That's quite a lot better: I can read the title and large print introducing the article. So I think you have the picture posting going fine for you, it's just that the sizing is still skimpy. It looks like this last picture is at about the 1/4 megapixel size, and if you could get us a full megapixel I think we could read all the print.

I have heard of the "1 of 1000" Winchesters, but not of this poster/article which you have acquired. What is the story behind your poster?

[coydog]

It was a promo by universal studios for the movie Winchester 73. They wanted to see how many of these rifles that were around. Winchester 73 is one of my favorite James Stewart movies. The whole movie centers around the rifle. It was my understanding that these wanted posters were put in different magazines before the release of the movie. I have never found out what magazines and i have bought a bunch from 1950 trying to find one. There is not much info on the posters out there or i havent found it if there is. It was one of those things most people probably tossed in the trash when they bought there magazine.

[getchius]

Hi Everyone,
I wanted to comment on this thread as the topic is very interesting. My dad and I own the original set of these advertisements sent from Winchester. We have the original mailing tube that the two posters and 2 page letter (Explaining the movie release, and that with the help of Universal Studios, they are trying to track down how many 1 in 1000 guns were actually in existence) were mailed in, from Winchester to dealers at that time with the 5 cent postage, the Wanted poster which is 14" x 17" and the 15" x 44" SEE 'WINCHESTER 73' poster that was to be adhered to the inside of glass to advertise the movie at local theatres. The poster is a solid blue and yellow color with a cowboy and his horse with the following text, (See "Winchester 73" "The Gun that won the West" at your local Theatre, Get Your Winchester Firearms Here. This is such a rare set, that when we contacted the historian at Winchester Firearms, they could only account for the set they owned, but never heard of another complete set surfacing, and they would get attached to windows, and then tore off when the promotion was over. If any of you are interested in purchasing the set, please let me know, otherwise if you would like to see pictures of the items, I think you would be tickled pink by how neat and how incredibly rare this really is. Thought I would share this, because as we have been scouring the internet and any sources we have, not one person has seen this complete set. Look forward to chatting more about this!

[coydog]

Would love to see some pics of these.