Propaganda Posters A Hit

Originally Posted by Sports Collectors Daily on October 6th, 2009.

When we interviewed him for this feature story in 2007, Red Sox fan and artist Chris Speakman was just getting started with his unique brand of baseball art.

A devoted history buff, Speakman used the World War II era "propaganda poster" as the inspiration for his own creations. Focusing on the recent success of his favorite franchise, Speakman found an audience for his special prints, created with a chemical process that involves adding layers of individual colors atop one another.

"Each color requires a separate screen to print from," Speakman explained in the article. "From there, ink is actually pressed through a stretched mesh screen with a stencil adhered to it to create an image on the paper."

"It was more of an experiment than anything. I was familiarizing myself with the medium. I put it on MySpace and received a surprisingly good response. I decided to do more."

Now, Speakman's work is about to find a new and much more targeted audience. He's agreed to a deal with Topps to produce a special 30-card insert in 2009 Topps Updates and Highlights. His 17x21" prints are already available in the Topps online store, numbered to 200 and priced at a very reasonable $60 each.