I wonder if there are any sharks around?

Art by Joyce Ballantyne for Shaw-Barton in 1953

Talk About Inflation!

The average price of a vintage pin-up advertising blotter tracked by Blotto! has surged 54% from the first half of 2021 to the first half of 2022 from $6.95 to $10.75. This was highlighted by the sale on eBay of three Earl Moran pin-up blotters featuring Marilyn Monroe for between $31.99 and $86.00 in April with the Hubbard Pants Company as advertiser.

Blotter above depicts art by Earl Moran for Brown & Bigelow in 1949. Source: eBay

What’s sarong with this?

Art by Gil Elvgren for Brown & Bigelow in 1946

Understanding Print Codes

Print codes can often help identify the age of a vintage ink blotter. Most publishers of blotters had print codes with the exception of Shaw-Barton. The code can be found at the base of the ink blotter. In the case of Brown & Bigelow blotters (the most prolific publisher) the codes indicate the year and the month within the series of blotters. For instance, Brown & Bigelow’s “Easy Does It” ink blotter with art by Gil Elvgren has a print code of 37-304-12 (for the 9″x4″ blotter, the shorter blotters had a code of 37-305-12). This indicated the blotter was initially part of the 1957 series (the “37” indicated 1957, “38” 1958, etc.) and the “304” (or “305” for the shorter version) the size of blotter with the “12” indicating the month of issue, in this case December. Not all advertisers (customers of Brown & Bigelow) followed this format however as some chose to issue the same art in later years (with the same print code as the original year) or in different months. Presumably, the customer was always right and Brown & Bigelow was willing to accommodate such out of order requests.

Misguided Collectors’ Guide!

We have published an 80-page pin-up advertising ink blotter collectors guide, albeit an incomplete one, with more than 1,500 pin-up advertising blotters catalogued. The guide features 100 full-color pictures of pin-up advertising blotters from our personal collections as well as a checklist and useful tips on grading, collecting and determining the age of a blotter. Price including shipping in the United States is $29.95. International shipping can be arranged but is not included. Below are some sample pages:

Blotto! a Pin-up Advertising Ink Blotter Collectors Guide

An 80 page, misguided guide to collecting pin-up advertising ink blotters. 100+ full color pictures and 1,500+ blotter checklist with recent values for more than 1,200 blotters.

$29.95

Collecting Pin-up Advertising Ink Blotters

Pin-up advertising ink blotters are an affordable and interesting way to collect so called “good girl art” from the 1930s through 1970s. Advertising ink blotters were 9″x4″ or 6″x3″ cards mailed to customers who were supposed to place them on their office desks and blot ink from their fountain pens after use. Fountain pens went the way of the dodo in favor of ball point technology and with them went this form of advertising. Ink blotters featured the advertisers name and sometimes a calendar and some artwork to make them interesting. While some of the artwork featured was of nature, sporting activities and cartoons, a favorite was the pin-up art of some of the renowned pin-up artists of the era including Gil Elvgren, Earl Moran, Joyce Ballantyne, Zoe Mozert, K.O. Munson, Ted Withers, Bill Layne and Vaughan Bass. While Blotto’s work cataloguing ink blotter art is not done, more than 1,400 different pin-up paintings have been featured on ink blotters.

Blotter pictured above is by Zoe Mozert for Brown & Bigelow in 1944