Sunday, January 15, 2006

What Are Those Movie Poster Worth

The RadlandsDailyFacts.com has an interesting article about the worth of movie posters and it offers some tips for the collector. You can read the article; What's it worth to THEM?

part of the article can be found below.

In Los Angeles, especially - but also throughout the world - movie posters have become an especially hot pop-culture collectible. Because of that, "Antiques Roadshow" is filming a special segment for its L.A. visit in which appraiser Rudy Franchi visits the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science's Margaret Herrick Library, which has massive archives for posters, movie stills, costume-design sketches and other material.

"They want a one-sheet (movie poster) for every film that won best picture," says the L.A.-based Franchi, who represents Dallas' Heritage Galleries on "Antiques Roadshow," but also is a part-owner of the poster- dealing Nostalgia Factory. He and his wife, Barbara, also wrote "Miller's Movie Collectibles."

"When I was doing poster auctions for Christie's, I found on consignment the only known copy of 'Grand Hotel,' one of only two gaps they have," Franchi says. "And they eventually bought it for $50,000 at auction." ("Grand Hotel" was 1932's best picture; the other missing poster is 1933's "Cavalcade.")

Genuine movie posters are limited-supply promotional material rarely if ever sold in stores as new merchandise. Franchi says the greatest risk for poster collectors is in purchasing unmarked reproductions sold by unscrupulous dealers. (By law, reproductions must be so labeled.)

He recommends either buying from reputable dealers or scouring flea markets for finds.

"If somebody has an 'original' `Casablanca' poster and wants $500, it's just the wrong price. It's either going to be $15,000 or $10 - $500 just screams 'reproduction.' If they know it's valuable, why wouldn't they know how valuable it really is?"

Oddly enough, the most valuable posters are of horror and science-fiction movies.

"A good horror film outgrosses 'Casablanca' or `Gone With the Wind' any day - as will a major science-fiction film like 'The Day the Earth Stood Still,' " Franchi says.

That's because baby boomers who were intensely affected by 1950s horror and sci-fi (and their antecedents, like 1932's "The Mummy") can now afford to buy memorabilia from those films. Because their demand exceeds supply, prices are driven up.

"So if you come out of theater now and say, 'That movie changed my life,' buy the poster today because in 30 years you'll be paying 100 times that amount," Franchi says.

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