Tuesday, October 18, 2011

1972 Stancraft NFL Posters by George Bartell

I came across a Baltimore Colts poster that was up for auction that I remember having as a kid which really took me back to the mid 1970s when I first started following pro football and I had this hanging up in my room:


I think I got this poster through the Scholastic Book Club at school. Seeing the poster again made me wonder what the other teams' posters looked like.

Fortunately the seller had a number of other teams up for auction as well, so let's take a look:






























These posters were done by artist George Bartell. On one of the posters we can see his signature


and on the bottom of the posters they are identified as the NFL Bartell Series with a 1972 copyright, and were manufactured by Stancraft:


The Illustrated NFL shows some of George's other football work:


As these posters demonstrate, George Bartell's art is full of motion, which is why he is probably more well known for his paintings of race cars



In researching George's work, I found that he even did some album cover artwork:


Turning back to George's football work, here is an ad from the October 9, 1972 issue of Sports Illustrated showing the posters:

In addition to posters for all the teams, there was a poster for the AFC


and another for the NFC


According to the order form, there is also a team helmets poster, which means a complete set consisted of 29 posters (26 teams + AFC + NFC + Helmets).

I'm glad that the seller had so many of these posters up for auction as I really enjoyed seeing George Bartell's artwork. Now I just have to track down pictures of the remaining teams to fully document the set.

14 comments:

  1. I have a Vikings poster that hung over my bed from grade school until I left home. Searching the internet has not turned-up any info on my poster, but it's certainly not a Bartell. My brother had the Steelers poster shown in this post; I think I bought both at school in the same year, so maybe 1972.

    The poster is basically a portrait of Alan Page, there's snow in the background, and two other Vikings are superimposed in the foreground. Any help identifying it would be appreciated.

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  2. I have a original Bartell Porsche Painting that he gave me a year ago.. A friend of the Family Great Guy!

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  3. I had both the Bears and Packers as small jigsaw puzzles when I was about 8 years old. Seeing the posters jogged my memory about those.

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  4. I have 20-21 of these posters - 4 from 1970, 2 from '71 and 14 from '72. I have the Colts poster framed. All others are still in their original sleeves. I bought these years ago when a card shop was going out of business. I recently sold a Steelers and a Redskins posters.

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  5. I have the Oilers and Chargers puzzles. I wish I could get more.

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  6. I have the Oilers and Chargers puzzles.

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  7. I had the Bartell-painted Steelers poster as a kid. I loved that poster, as I love my Steelers, but I eventually lost it. I replaced it, in mint condition, and will have it framed.

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  8. Anyone know of a Bartell NFL poster collection for sale? Paul

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    Replies
    1. I have the 72 nfc poster for sale

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  9. I have 5 Bartell posters for sale. Lions, Colts, Packers, Steelers, 49ers

    Lou 5043383119

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  10. I have the 1974 Washington redskins

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  11. I have the 1974 Washington redskins

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  12. I have over 20 of the teams each poster is laminated anyone interested let me know I’ll send ya some pics

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