Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very good original 1918 World War I Liberty Bond poster by American artist Walter Whitehead, featuring the dramatic slogan:

COME ON!

BUY MORE LIBERTY BONDS

Printed as a color lithograph, the poster depicts an American infantryman advancing with a fixed bayonet while stepping over the body of a fallen German soldier. The image combines a direct battlefield scene with a financial appeal to the American home front, linking the purchase of government war bonds with continued support for soldiers fighting overseas. The German soldier is wearing his distinctive pointed helmet which was known as a Pickelhaube. The Pickelhaube became an item of fear and hatred for the American public. Dehumanizing Germans became a common tactic in American propaganda posters. This tactic influenced Americans to help the evil barbarians from invading by buying liberty bonds. This is emphasized by the caption: “Come on! Buy more Liberty Bonds!”.

Personifying the enemy as non-human was a common propaganda practice to drive Americans to purchase Liberty Bonds in order to finance the war. Liberty Loans were bonds that the Government sold so they could keep up with the expenses of war. These were sold back to the Government after the war. The poster was created and reproduced as a lithographic print at the time of its distribution.

This is an original 1918 lithographic print offered in very good condition with some tearing along the top and bottom with some old repairs. There is some very minor fading damage as well.

This example is marked THE STROBRIDGE LITHO. CO. / CINCINNATTI in the bottom right, and 8B in the bottom left. The color is extremely well-retained. There are some creases and very small edge tears, but it has held up very well overall.

The surviving Walter Whitehead 1918 signature, 8-B identification number, Strobridge Lithographing Company imprint, strong original color, and approximately 20 x 30-inch format firmly place this example within the documented original production of one of the more visually forceful American Liberty Bond posters of World War I. Its combination of battlefield imagery and direct financial appeal provides an especially clear illustration of how the Treasury's wartime publicity campaigns connected civilian investment with military service overseas.

Note: This poster will be shipped rolled.