We returned from three days in the Carmel Forests (21/7/2011) and I found a pile of emails on my computer. My eye was caught by an email from the auction house Kedem in Jerusalem. Shai, one of the owners, was asking if I had information on a “Hapoel Hamizrahi” poster designed by Shamir with the topic of "Torah and Avoda (Torah and labour) - From the burning Diaspora to building a religious Eretz Israel". The illustration was a bearded man holding a Torah scroll in one hand and a hammer in the other. This was the first time that I saw such a poster and the first time I discovered that Shamir brothers worked for Mizrachi. I could not contribute anything more to Shai other than to guess that the poster was probably from World War II or shortly thereafter. I sent a copy to Micah Riss 0f Fling Machine, New York, and he informed me that he had a copy.

Among the emails were six from Dan Walsh of the Palestine Poster Archive web-site. In one of them Dan asked if the attached poster was by Shamir. Bingo! Another poster by Shamir that I did not know. The illustration shows a man shaving and his reflection in the mirror. The poster was issued by Sherf - a soap manufacturer in Rishon Lezion. I found newspaper ads for Sherf designed by Shamir Brothers in newspapers from 1935-6, but this far I had not seen a colour poster for Sherf products.

I told Dan that the signature of a large Hebrew letter “Shin” was the logo that Shamir used in the 30s and 40s. He then revealed his source: e-bay. The poster was offered at a starting price of $140. Last month two Shamir posters were sold by Tiroche Auction, Herzlia, for $3450 dollars each.

Yoram Shamir  2011