About Us
Welcome to the Indian River Poster Company. We hope you enjoy your visit and that your interest in posters is enhanced by what you see today. We specialize in vintage posters covering travel, transportation, food and drink and motion pictures. We’re a family that has been collecting posters for over 40 years. Mike Gotwalt started collecting posters while in college at Penn State where he also managed the legendary Twelvetrees Cinema. While his focus originally was motion picture posters it also included World’s Fair collectibles and cigar box labels that he was able to acquire at the great Pennsylvania flea markets of the 1970’s. Mike’s wife Nancy and son Nick became avid collectors in their own right, expanding the focus to include WPA posters and Railwayana.
For the most part, we’ve been buyers and traders but now we’ve added selling to the list through the IRPC website and our Vintage Poster Gallery in Ver Beach, Florida. Nick is the President of the company and leads our research and acquisition efforts. We’ve been visitors to the Treasure Coast for over 30 years, and decided to retire here in 2012. Between our two homes we have over 90 posters displayed from all genres and eras.
Vero Beach has a rich advertising art heritage, as Indian River County lies in the center of the Florida Orange and Citrus growing area. Occasionally we’ll feature examples of the famous Florida citrus crate labels.
Collecting posters has always been a passion. In 1895, when the poster as art was in its infancy, Jules Cheret, the father of the modern poster created his Maîtres de L’Affiche subscription series where collectors would receive 4 small sized versions of famous posters every month. This highly successful series ran for 5 years and produced over 250 posters. The passion continues today as more and more people are exposed to the wealth of subjects, artists and products that comprise the vintage poster universe. We hope you enjoy your visit and if you see anything you like, please don’t hesitate to contact us, and be sure to check the site often as we add new inventory frequently.