Welcome to The2FunAdGuyz collection of rare vintage posters,
art prints, ads, advertising, historical documents,
prints and rare photographs.

The2FunAdGuyz, are based in Trenton, New Jersey, which places us in the midst of some of the most historically important areas in America. George Washington crossed the Delaware River just a few miles down the road. Our favorite movie theater in Philadelphia is a block from Independence Hall. Bucks County Pennsylvania and Princeton, New Jersey are just a few miles away. As a result, we spend several days a week scouring the area for historically significant posters and advertising prints that can be reproduced. Restoring these posters and prints to their former glory consumes the rest of our time. However, for The 2 Fun Ad Guyz the fun has only just begun. Before offering the item for sale, we research the subject matter so that buyers have a glimpse of the importance of what they are buying. We want you to enjoy reading about the material as much as you will enjoy shopping, owning and eventually preserving it.

In our auctions and our eBay store you will find items that will touch your heart, and many times your funny bone. Our collection of early vintage theater posters will have you rolling in the aisles, especially our vaudeville and burlesque posters. Lincoln's last formal photograph will touch you as you see etched on his face the terrible toll that the Civil War imposed on him. Our collections of minstrel posters will show you how many of the horrific stereotypes of African-Americans were created. The patriotism of our World War I & World War II poster collections will help you better understand the nature of those two conflicts.

Below we have a more complete description of some of the items available or to see a complete list of all our auction and eBay store items click here.

We believe that every person and family should have the ability to have quality historical and advertising memorabilia at a reasonable cost. We use high quality paper (in our descriptions we always state the type and weight of all paper used) and have one of the best digital laser printers available to professionals.

If you have any questions about our collections or policies email us at the2funadguyz.

The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Collection

The first release group is a series of prints and photographs, all now available, emphasizing the important images of the period from his first campaign, through the Civil War and ending in the tragic events surrounding his assassination, funeral, and the trial of those convicted in the broad plot to kill high government officials on the same night. All photos and posters have been restored by removing blemishes, cracks and fold lines without removing critical elements. You will proudly display these in your home, office or classroom.

The campaigns of 1860 and 1864 were conducted with the same technique as those of the previous fifty years. Candidates stayed at home and their campaigns were run by local party members who also frequently bought and paid for campaign materials. Some local political organizations purchased stock campaign posters from lithography companies like Currier & Ives. We have prints of several campaign posters for the Lincoln & Hamlin campaign of 1860 and another from the Lincoln-Johnson ticket of 1864. In 1864 Vice-President Hannibal Hamlin was replaced by Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, a War Democrat.

President Abraham Lincoln presidency and the American Civil War are nearly simultaneous events. Less than a month after Lincoln inauguration the war began at Ft. Sumter and lasted until just a few days before his assassination. During that period some of the most talented photographers of the time took Lincoln photo. That group included Alexander Gardner, thought to be Lincoln favorite photographer. Some of these photographs were formal studio portraits of the President and his family. Two Gardner photographs particularly capture the toll that the war extracted from Abraham Lincoln. The first photograph, taken in 1863, contrasts with the last known formal portrait of Lincoln, taken a few days before his assassination. Others were taken when Lincoln visited remote places including battlefields where he met with the troops and Generals. After the Union Victory at Antietam, Gardner accompanied Lincoln to visit the Union Army. Lincoln is captured in a series of photographs posing with (among others) General George B. McClellan, Allan Pinkerton, Gen. Henry J. Hunt, Gen. George W. Morell, Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys, Gen. John A. McClernand and a young Captain George Armstrong Custer.

To honor what many consider his greatest speech we have two different versions of the Gettysburg Address. One version has a large print text of the Gettysburg Address crowned by a photo of Lincoln framed in a red-white-and blue motif. A second, more tempered print has the text complemented by a line drawing of President Lincoln. Both versions are printed on a quality parchment paper that makes for a stunning and dignified presentation.

A few weeks after his second inauguration, a few days after General Robert E. Lee surrender, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford Theater in Washington, D.C. John Wilkes Booth, the man who actually fired the fatal shot into Lincoln Head was at the apex of a broad conspiracy perpetrated by a group wanting to throw the United States Government into chaos by assassinating President Lincoln and other high government officials. What followed in the aftermath of the actual assassination was a period of national anguish and grief. The Abraham Lincoln Funeral was a national event, happening at the end of four horrendous years of war that had over 600,000 casualties on both sides. The President body was carried from Washington, D.C. to its Springfield, Illinois final resting place in his private railroad car. Following a route very similar to his travel from Springfield to Washington in 1861 for his inauguration, many cities had processions and viewings that lasted a full day. Along the train route tens of thousands of Americans stood beside railroad tracks to honor their fallen leader as his funeral car passed. A series of photos surrounding the aftermath of the assassination include one showing Ford Theater just days after the assassinationedecked in black crepe and guarded by the military. A remarkable Currier and Ives lithograph captures the funeral procession as it neared Union Square in New York City. Many more photos and lithographs will be added to this section over the next two years.

Most American school children were educated in rooms where photographs of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington looked down on them. However, few Americans have ever seen the photographs and wanted posters of the broader conspiracy members. John Wilkes Booth led this band of Confederate sympathizers who also planned to kill Secretary of State Seward and Vice-President Andrew Johnson. Mary Surratt, John Surratt, Lewis Powell, David E. Herold, and George Atzerodt were among those eventually charged with participation in the conspiracy. John Surratt was eventually caught, tried and acquitted. As you will see, the others did not fare so well.

After the assassination, Washington D.C. grew frustrated by the failure to capture Booth or any of the other participants. A huge financial reward was offered for the capture of John Wilkes Booth, John Surratt and David Herold. To publicize the reward, Secretary of War Edward Stanton issued a wanted poster with details of the reward. Three photographs of the conspirators were printed on the poster. We have available a new print of that poster available as part of this collection.

CAUTIONARY NOTE: the photographs of the execution of the Lincoln Conspirators discussed next, while of immense historical significance, may be offensive to some viewers. Clicking on the links below will take you to those photographs so proceed with caution.

Perhaps the most stunning photographic prints we have available in our collection are the series of four taken by Alexander Gardner of the execution by hanging of convicted conspirators Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David E. Herold, and George Atzerodt. Their execution took place on July 7, 1865 at Old Arsenal Prison, Washington, D.C. There is something fascinating and simultaneously sobering about these photos since they were taken in less than a half-hour of time. They show the condemned prisoners arriving on the gallows, hearing the death warrants, the adjusting of the ropes and their lifeless bodies after the execution. We also have an additional photo of General John Hartranft, commander of the execution detail, and his staff officers. In addition, we also have prints of the mug shot photographs of Powell, Herold and Atzerodt while they were confined at the Old Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. Together these photos, and many of the dozens of others that will be added to the collection over the next several years, form a remarkable record of one of the most inspiring, and complex, Americans to have ever lived.

We hope that they will make his life and death as heroic and tragic as so many historians and citizens alike believe it was.

Here is our Vintage Nurse Poster, Print And Photograph Collection
information including our Red Cross Poster Collection.

One of our most popular collections is our nursing recruitment posters from World War I and World War II that make great gifts for nurses. They are especially important because many of America's most famous artists and illustrators of the time were involved in their creation. These artists include Harrison Fisher, Haskell Coffin, Hayden Hayden, Howard Chandler Christy, James Montgomery Flagg, Carl Rakeman, Thomas Tryon, Cornelius Hicks, Gordon Grant, Edwin Howard Blashfield, Herbert Andrew Paus, and Hubert Chapin. Of course at the heart of the nursing effort of these wars was the American Red Cross. We are proud to have a large reproduction of the favorite photo of American Red Cross founder, Clara Barton. In fact, Clara Barton selected this particular photograph as the one she wished to be remembered by. Especially poignant is a French poster remembering the heroic British nurse, Edith Louisa Cavell, who was executed by German soldiers. Cavell had helped hundreds of Allied soldiers escape from Belgium. The writings of John Greenleaf Whittier were used on one poster in this collection. Among the diverse groups that sponsored fund- raising efforts were both the New York Stage Women's War Relief and the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America. Click here to see all of our nurse and nursing posters. You should also view all of our Public Health Posters that were used against the campaigns against syphilis and venereal diseases following World War I.

Firefighter Posters, Fireman Prints and Firemen Photographs
comprise one of our most-visited sections, particularly since
they make nice firefighter gifts.

Vintage Firefighter Posters capture the high drama and heroics displayed by firemen from the earliest of times. Firefighters, their fire trucks and their fire equipment were always a matter of curiosity. Volunteer Fire Companies gave way to professional Firemen. Suddenly, steam fire engines and equipment gave way to fire trucks and other fire equipment that quickly began to appear in the firefighter posters of the day. However, what dominated these firefighter posters is the men, and eventually women, who fought the fires. To be a member of a Fire Department was an honor and our Vintage Firefighter Fire Department Certificate by Currier & Ives can be a great gift for a firefighter, since you can fill in their name and local fire department right on the certificate.

The famed lithographer printers Currier & Ives produced some of the most memorable of firefighting scenes. Perhaps because Nat Currier was himself a member of a volunteer fire department. These Currier & Ives Firefighter Prints capture the enormity of big city fires that could destroy entire blocks. Currier & Ives also produced a series of Darktown Fire Brigade posters that were decidedly racist and demeaning, but we still believe they form a part of our history.

In much the same way that Steam Fire Engines replaced handpumpers, firefighter prints gave way to the art of fire photography. Action photographs of fire fighters form a good part of our collection, especially when enlarged to our size. Fire engines racing to a fire, fireman scaling ladders and making rescues create many memorable fire department photos that we have available. Dramatic firefighting photos in the collection are from the San Francisco Earthquake and the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City. For New York Fire Department (NYFD) we have a series of WPA posters that show the NYFD history in a series of four posters.

Our Irish Posters, Photographs of Ireland and our Irish Photochroms
and Prints reflect the influence Ireland, Celtic culture and the
Irish people have had on the world.

These Irish prints reflect every aspect of the history of Ireland and are rich in the symbols of Ireland like the shamrock, bagpipes and Irish wolfhound, which are everywhere. Of course, the story of St. Patrick forms the basis of many of the prints. The recruitment posters for the Irish Units of the British Army in World War I offer unique insights into the Irish character. The deeds of Irish hero and Victorian Cross winner Michael O'Leary are celebrated on one poster. The words of Joseph Devlin form the basis for another Irish Recruitment poster. Currier & Ives Irish prints include the stunning Irish Beauty and a unique portrait of St. Patrick. There are Irish theater posters for the Irish Rebellion. Sports posters include the legendary Irish boxer, Terry McGovern. Our Irish Photos, many done from early 1900s photochroms include spectacular views of Ireland's countryside and great Irish cities including Dublin, Ireland. The landmarks in these photos include St. Patrick's Cathedral and Phoenix Park in Dublin. Irish countryside photos feature jaunting carts, Irish peasant farmers and Irish Colleens. Several Irish Images by Ellen Clapsaddle have been turned into Irish prints for this collection.