Vintage RARE Smithsonian Museum Bleriot XI Original Fabric Art NOS For Sale

** Thisposter has been rolled-up in a retired Air Force and Commercial pilot\'sbasement for decades. I came across it during a recent estate sale. The Smithsonian sold off fabric in the1970s (via this poster series) and no longer has that practice due to these posters. **

The 2x2inch swatch of the original fabric is mounted on a 15x20 print. The print is on a sturdy card stock and will need to be mounted. Please keep in mind this poster is 30+ years old and has been stored in a basement.

From the mid-1970\'s to theearly \'80\'s, the Smithsonian\'s National Air and Space Museum produced its\"Aviation Relic Series\" of limited-edition prints, featuring 2\"square pieces of fabric from various historical aircraft in their collection.These were from aircraft that were going through restoration at the time toreplace deteriorating original fabric. The National Air & Space Museum keptsome large pieces of the original fabric in their collection for futurereference but they decided to make some original fabric available to the publicthrough this poster series to stimulate more interest in the museum. It seemsremarkable that the Smithsonian would sell off such significant artifacts, andafter a few years, not surprisingly, the museum decided that this was not agood idea after all and their policy now foroffers this practice.Theirmisfortune is your gain.