The
Hillstock Quality Pledge
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We've
been a pioneer in the niche of vintage image licensing:
Hillstock has been selling vintage images online
since early
2002. As we've expanded our offerings over the
years we've always stayed true to our founding principles
of honesty, integrity and high quality.
We
do not strive to be the largest or cheapest collection
online: We're well aware of the microstock
craze where anyone with a camera or scanner can
upload images for licensing- everything we have
is from our own original sources. We also realize
our pricing is not for every budget, but we believe
in the old proverb that you get what you pay for.
Everything we scan gets "cleaned up" and
enhanced. Also, your time is money, and we save
you both by picking out the best of our best to
offer you so that there is no need to spend hours
sorting through filler images.
We
only use original art sources in our possession:
The image sources we bring to you literally span
generations of collecting since Hillstock owner
Averyl Hill's grandmother is herself a lifetime
collector. Additionally, our home state of Maine
is well known for its antique shops, old estate
sales, auctions, flea markets and other places for
acquiring authentic vintage art sources. If we're
not busy at work in our design studio we're most
likely out treasure hunting to find the best images
for your projects. We store our sources at an undisclosed
climate controlled archive and maintain a catalog
of source material. Try asking a vintage clip art
or stock image vendor if they can take a picture
of the original source art. We can!
We
only use legally & ethically acquired art sources:
Intellectual property law is something we take very
seriously. With the help of our attorneys we have
developed a proprietary method for checking copyright
status before we will add an image to our stock
collection or use in a unique design. If there's
any doubt on our part, we don't use it. No exceptions.
We will not take images from The Library of Congress
online archive and then repackage them to charge
you a licensing fee which is a practice that sadly
we've seen done. We invite you to conduct
your own searches if ever in doubt!
We
use gleaming new technology: While we love
vintage images we're certainly not luddites! The
technology we use to digitize our vintage image
sources is the best we can offer and we print our
images at advertised sizes in-house for testing
purposes to ensure we approve of what we offer you.
We
offer high quality stock images: We do
not offer low-res pixilated junk. While we do offer
multi-media resolutions, our print resolution images
are clearly marked with both pixels per inch and
print size so you can make educated buying decisions.
We will never simply resize an image with software-
all print sizes are scanned in directly at advertised
sizing.
We
give back to the community: Since its inception,
Hillstock has sponsored a cage for a year at our
local animal shelter, was a national corporate sponsor
of Toys for Tots in 2005, has donated art to decorate
the rooms of residents at the Scarborough, Maine
veterans home and provided stock images for the
marketing of the historic Victoria Mansion in Portland.
These are but a few examples.
You
can speak to the owner: Hillstock doesn't
hide behind private domain registrations or withhold
a telephone number to contact us. Have a concern
or question- please call us at 207-415-6459. That's
EST in Maine. If we can't take your call please
leave us a message and the owner, Averyl Hill, will
get back to you.
