Heritage Vintage Movie Poster Auction Posts Strong Results Heritage Auction Galleries' recent auction of Vintage Movie Posters realized $2,291,938 for 1,301 lots offered, although after auction sales are still ongoing
News-Antique.com - Mar 15,2008 - DALLAS, TEXAS: Heritage Auction Galleries' recent auction of Vintage Movie Posters realized $2,291,938 for 1,301 lots offered, although after auction sales are still ongoing, and are expected to push the final total to even higher levels.
"There were some exceptionally dramatic results in this auction," said Grey Smith, Director of Vintage Movie Poster Auctions for Dallas-based Heritage. "As should come as no surprise to anyone who has been following this hobby for any length of time, many of the top pieces in this auction hailed from the genre of classic horror, including beautiful, and very rare, pieces featuring some of Hollywood's biggest stars."
"One of the most impressive results in this area was the $44,812 realized for the incredible lobby card from Dracula, featuring a fearsome portrait of Bela Lugosi and co-star Helen Chandler," Smith continued. "To the best of my knowledge, this is a new world record for a single scene card."
Smith continued, "Other horror highlights included the Style D one sheet for The Raven, which brought $53,775, a beautiful pre-war Belgian poster for London After Midnight , a famous lost film starring Lon Chaney Sr., which realized $35,850, the title card and a wonderful scene card from Son of Frankenstein, which brought $28,680 and $17,925, respectively, a very rare one sheet for Doctor X, that fetched $16,730, and a great one sheet for Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, which sold for $13,145."
"Classic Hollywood was another popular category," Smith said, with a number of strong results. The great Love Before Breakfast one sheet sold for $47,800, while the Lady from Shanghai Italian 4-folio, our catalog cover piece, brought $41,825. Both the Style B Moon Over Miami one sheet and the Style B three sheet for It Happened One Night sold for $35,850, and a window card for F.W. Murnau's silent classic, Sunrise, brought $19,120."
"Above everything else, however, the thing that really stands out for me about this auction were the number of truly unexpected prices realized," Smith said. "There were several pieces that became the subject of passionate bidding wars, resulting in prices far in excess of their pre-sale estimates. A perfect example is the beautiful one sheet for the 1929 film, The Rescue , starring Ronald Colman. We estimated this piece at $2,000 - $4,000, but when all was said and done, it sold for $35,850. Another example is the one sheet for the Pete Smith short, The New Audioscopiks , a 1938 film shot in an early 3-D process. We put it in the catalog with an estimate of $600 - $900, and were excited to see two passionate bidders go head to head for this beauty, which eventually brought $13,145. Also, there were several lots of lobby cards from Rex Ingram's 1926 picture, The Magician , estimated in the $400 - $1,000 range. Again, several bidders competed for these rare treasures, driving the final price to $8,365 for the title card, and from $2,031 to 8,962 for the additional lots!"
