"Keep Calm and Carry On was a motivational poster produced by the British government in 1939 in preparation for the Second World War. The poster was intended to raise the morale of the British public, threatened with widely predicted mass air attacks on major cities.Although 2.45 million copies were printed, and although the Blitz happened, the poster was hardly ever publicly displayed and was little known about until a copy was rediscovered in 2000. It has since been re-issued by a number of private companies, and has been used as the decorative theme for a range of products."
The original 1939 Keep Calm and Carry On poster
From the British version of Antiques Roadshow - here
" A collection of 'Keep Calm and Carry On' posters that are believed to be the only surviving originals in Britain have emerged on the Antiques Roadshow. Thousands of the posters were created at the beginning of the Second World War to keep up morale in case of invasion, yet only a few were handed out. The posters uncovered on the Roadshow at St Andrews University were given to Moragh Turnbull, from Cupar, Fife, by her father William, who served as a member of the Royal Observer Corps.
Mr Turnbull was given about 15 to put up close to his home but by the time he received them, the threat of a German invasion had waned.He kept them rolled up in an elastic band at his home before passing them on to his daughter - who only realised their true value after taking them to an Antiques Roadshow event Roadshow expert Paul Atterbury told Miss Turnbull that she was 'probably sitting on the world's only stock' of the famous posters - and they are worth several thousand pounds."
Stated that these are worth ~15000 pounds (~$23k US dollars).
