Author Topic: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)  (Read 7986 times)

TopsideKracker

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Sorry everyone, first post.  I've looked around the internet for a sort of poster database with information that would help in spotting fakes and I'm coming up empty.  I've found a few things like learnaboutmovieposters.com and movieposters.com that help a little but I was hoping to find something a little more extensive.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  I've tried looking through the forum some so please forgive the new guy if this has been answered a kajillion times... I know how annoying that can be.

And while I'm here I might as well give you the posters I'm trying to find more info on.  I recently bought this item on ebay and my gut keeps telling me the price was too good to be real but I can't find anything to give me piece of mind.  It's DS but it was half the price of what everyone else wanted.  I felt a little better when I browsed through the forum and saw that some users had checked this seller out and hadn't seen any red flags.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/160711768654?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Also looking to find more information on this Empire Strikes Back poster.  

http://www.learnaboutmovieposters.com/posters/db/poster.asp?pid=6653

http://www.movieposter.com/poster/MPW-59166/Star_Wars_Episode_V_The_Empire_Strikes_Back.html

You can see the variations in the bottom right corner.  One with the NSS number I've rarely seen and the other usually still goes for $100 on ebay.  Can someone offer any information on what's what with this?  A friend told me the R at the front of the number is to indicate that its a reprint and there should be an original out there but I've never seen it and searches pull up nothing.  Does this have something to do with the poster being a theater re-release?  And if the others without the NSS are reprints, are they still worth the $100?  I'm completely lost on this one... thanks for any help that can be offered.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2012, 06:33:39 PM by TopsideKracker »

Offline stewart boyle

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2012, 06:46:53 PM »


Welcome to the world of poster collecting !!!

Stew

Offline CJ138

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2012, 07:12:42 PM »
Check out http://movieposterauthenticating.com/wordpress/

And welcome to the forum!

Conor
Lowering the brow of APF since 2010.

Dread_Pirate_Mel

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2012, 07:18:51 PM »
Sorry everyone, first post.  I've looked around the internet for a sort of poster database with information that would help in spotting fakes and I'm coming up empty.

Rest easy.  The "Frodo looking down" poster is somewhat uncommon but nowadays commonly sells for $25-$50.  There are no double-sided reprints of that poster for sure.

The re-release posters for Empire Strikes Back go for $25-$50.  The "R" stands for release and not reprint. Since there are so many originals of this style floating around, it's unlikely there are many - or even any - reprints floating around.

Check out the following for some tips on distinguishing originals from reprints.  Contrary to popular belief, it's usually easy to distinguish reprints from originals - the "fuzzy" printing on reprints almost always gives them away:

www.movieposterauthenticating.com

http://moviepostercollectors.com/Authentications.html  (my site)

« Last Edit: January 19, 2012, 07:20:09 PM by Dread_Pirate_Mel »

TopsideKracker

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #4 on: January 19, 2012, 07:23:21 PM »


Welcome to the world of poster collecting !!!

Stew


Thanks Stew!  ;D

Check out http://movieposterauthenticating.com/wordpress/

And welcome to the forum!

Conor

Checked it out but it looks like there are only around 50 or so posters documented and unfortunately neither of the ones I'm currently looking for info on are listed.  I'll keep it bookmarked for future reference though.  Thanks for the welcome!

Rest easy.  The "Frodo looking down" poster is somewhat uncommon but nowadays commonly sells for $25-$50.  There are no double-sided reprints of that poster for sure.

 :o So if I payed $100 I paid more than twice what its going for?  Crap.  Well, at least its original.  You live and you learn.  I'm baffled though... cinemasterpieces wanted $400 or $500 for it and movieposters.com wanted $250.  And every listing on ebay wanted at least $200 up until I saw this one... I thought I was getting a steal.  Oh well... thanks for the info!

The re-release posters for Empire Strikes Back go for $25-$50.  The "R" stands for release and not reprint. Since there are so many originals of this style floating around, it's unlikely there are many - or even any - reprints floating around.

Again, thanks for the info.  Where do people get these posters at for these prices?  As with the LOTR poster, dealers want anywhere from $100-200 and ebay auctions have been battled out for close to $100.  I recently lost out on one that ended at around $80.

Check out the following for some tips on distinguishing originals from reprints.  Contrary to popular belief, it's usually easy to distinguish reprints from originals - the "fuzzy" printing on reprints almost always gives them away:

www.movieposterauthenticating.com

Thanks, I'll check that out. 
« Last Edit: January 19, 2012, 07:34:59 PM by TopsideKracker »

Offline ddilts399

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #5 on: January 19, 2012, 07:39:15 PM »
movieposter.com has inflated prices to put it mildly on their older stuff, so I would recommend to be patient. Regardless of what all the "ebay sucks" posts say, it still is the number one place to get decent prices on posters, period.

Like Mel stated, most reprints are give aways once you have them in hand do to contrasting paper makeup or how bad the printing is. The ones that will get you are when original plates were used or someone had access to the high dollar printers to run off something and most of these posters are known in the community.

Usually if you look at everything a seller has or research their history, that too will be a good hint as too what they have going on. For example, they have all 90's posters, but are advertising several copies of a rolled early 80's poster as original, be wary. Things like that, were there is a contrast in what the bulk of their inventory is. If they accept returns, no big deal, role the dice and see what happens.



Offline stewart boyle

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #6 on: January 19, 2012, 07:47:25 PM »

The re-release posters for Empire Strikes Back go for $25-$50.  
http://moviepostercollectors.com/Authentications.html  (my site)  thumbup

Next time you stumble across one of those for $25 Mel..please pm me..please  :)

Stew

Offline CSM

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #7 on: January 19, 2012, 07:50:56 PM »
I guess some dealers really DO owe a debt of gratitude to Cinemasterapes and Dave's inflationary affect on the hobby!
Chris

Offline Harry Caul

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #8 on: January 19, 2012, 08:01:17 PM »
:o So if I payed $100 I paid more than twice what its going for?  Crap.  Well, at least its original.  You live and you learn.  I'm baffled though... cinemasterpieces wanted $400 or $500 for it and movieposters.com wanted $250.  And every listing on ebay wanted at least $200 up until I saw this one... I thought I was getting a steal.  Oh well... thanks for the info!

It may have been a bit high, but you didn't get screwed by any means.  And we ALL go through this... I paid $150 for my first poster in a dealer's store.  It was a Once Upon a Time in the West Belgian poster.  It was beautiful.  I was ecstatic.  Then I found this forum and started watching eBay.  I found out it normally sells for about $25-30.  Oh well, live and learn. And its no less beautiful  ;)

Welcome!

TopsideKracker

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #9 on: January 19, 2012, 10:04:54 PM »
movieposter.com has inflated prices to put it mildly on their older stuff, so I would recommend to be patient. Regardless of what all the "ebay sucks" posts say, it still is the number one place to get decent prices on posters, period.

Patience seems to be the key word there.  Thanks for the tips.

http://moviepostercollectors.com/Authentications.html  (my site)  thumbup

Next time you stumble across one of those for $25 Mel..please pm me..please  :)

Stew


Hey, doesn't the TC get dibs?  ;)

It may have been a bit high, but you didn't get screwed by any means.  And we ALL go through this... I paid $150 for my first poster in a dealer's store.  It was a Once Upon a Time in the West Belgian poster.  It was beautiful.  I was ecstatic.  Then I found this forum and started watching eBay.  I found out it normally sells for about $25-30.  Oh well, live and learn. And its no less beautiful  ;)

Welcome!

Thanks... misery loves company lol.  I definitely got hosed on the LOTR poster... several up now for $50.  I just need to be a little more patient.  Biggest mistake that I made was not waiting for actual auctions to go up and see what people were bidding for it.  Only ones up at the time I bought mine were "buy it now"s, but since there were 5-6 listed for a few hundred dollars I thought it was a safe measuring stick.  Never again! >:(

On that note... I know that prices are never really concrete, but is there a price guide of sorts that I can use as a reference or is it more of what a poster consistently sells for on ebay?

Thanks for all the quick replies everyone!
« Last Edit: January 19, 2012, 10:06:03 PM by TopsideKracker »

Dread_Pirate_Mel

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #10 on: January 19, 2012, 10:39:05 PM »
A few freaks like Harry Caul find stellar deals in extremely obscure auctions but the most practical way to get "great" deals is to:

- Monitor the Ebay auctions weekly
- Add the best potential deals to your Watch List
- Ignore the "Buy It Now" listings (most of which are inflated)
- Use a sniping service like Bidnip.com ($6 month)

Click on and save these decade links (sorted by ending soonest, 200 displayed):

1950s Ebay auctions (US)

1960s Ebay auctions (US)

1970s Ebay auctions (US)

1980s Ebay auctions (US)

1990s Ebay auctions (US)
« Last Edit: January 19, 2012, 10:46:55 PM by Dread_Pirate_Mel »

Offline eatbrie

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #11 on: January 19, 2012, 11:12:31 PM »
Unless you're looking for that extremely rare poster that never pops up on Ebay (there are a lot, unfortunately), never buy from dealers.  You will end up paying 10x the price, paying their overhead and sending their kids to college.  Like everybody said, be patient, most posters pop up on Ebay, at Heritage, Bruce's or Rich's auctions.  You will find them.

As far as prices go, since you seem to be looking for fairly new material, you best bet is to ask forum members you trust, privately if you don't want to advertize your sale.  There are a lot of lurkers out there, and you don't want to give them ideas.  You will make mistakes, we all do, but if you wait, I guarantee you will get a clearer picture in no time.

T
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- "Wishing you the best of luck with All Poster Forum and in encouraging others to appreciate the magical art of film posters" - Martin Scorsese (2009)

Offline archie leach

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #12 on: January 20, 2012, 06:38:17 AM »
Rest easy.  The "Frodo looking down" poster is somewhat uncommon but nowadays commonly sells for $25-$50.  There are no double-sided reprints of that poster for sure.
The re-release posters for Empire Strikes Back go for $25-$50.  The "R" stands for release and not reprint. Since there are so many originals of this style floating around, it's unlikely there are many - or even any - reprints floating around.

Check out the following for some tips on distinguishing originals from reprints.  Contrary to popular belief, it's usually easy to distinguish reprints from originals - the "fuzzy" printing on reprints almost always gives them away:

www.movieposterauthenticating.com

Isn't it is rather hazardous throwing around such a definitive statement to new collectors?  Have you personally verified every Frodo poster?  It would be far more accurate to say that there are no known DS reprints floating around.

It is very easy to tell the difference if you have an original and reprint side-by-side or have had experience doing so in the past, but for new collectors it can be more challenging if all you have is one example and are not used to handling large amounts of paper.


Also, the R in the NSS# means that the poster is for a re-release of the film - for ESB, originally released in 1980 (NSS# 800001), the poster mentioned in the original post was for the 1981 re-release of the film, hence the NSS #R810129.

Here's the LAMP link that outlines the NSS numbering system...
http://www.learnaboutmovieposters.com/newsite/index/countries/US/history/nss/nss_number.asp
« Last Edit: January 20, 2012, 06:38:49 AM by archie leach »

Offline archie leach

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #13 on: January 20, 2012, 06:42:19 AM »
I guess some dealers really DO owe a debt of gratitude to Cinemasterapes and Dave's inflationary affect on the hobby!

Yes, screwing newbies since '04...

Dread_Pirate_Mel

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #14 on: January 20, 2012, 12:02:07 PM »
The number of double-sided repros is minuscule compared to the boatloads of low-quality single-sided repros (Black Swan, Inception, etc) pumped out by the likes of Tloce and MovieGoods. We should encourage newbies to focus on the real problem.

Offline brude

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #15 on: January 20, 2012, 01:20:20 PM »
 welcome1 to APF, TopsideKracker!

Offline rdavey26

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #16 on: January 20, 2012, 02:05:24 PM »
Another good resource that I use is the auction history at www.emovieposter.com. This will give you the information for past auctions and can be very useful in seeing a price range on what certain posters go for and what most collectors are willing to pay for them. It also gives you information on the posters. I am sure other collectors use this resource as well.  welcome1 to APF.
« Last Edit: January 20, 2012, 02:06:21 PM by rdavey26 »

Offline archie leach

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #17 on: January 20, 2012, 02:48:22 PM »
The number of double-sided repros is minuscule compared to the boatloads of low-quality single-sided repros (Black Swan, Inception, etc) pumped out by the likes of Tloce and MovieGoods. We should encourage newbies to focus on the real problem.

It's not an either/or situation.  We can do both.

TopsideKracker

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #18 on: January 20, 2012, 06:49:06 PM »
You all rock!  I didn't expect this much of a response this quick.  I'm bookmarking all the links provided; its very much appreciated.

Does anyone here know much about the Star Wars posters?  In the OP the links I gave were to two different versions of the same poster.  One has an NSS number in the lower right corner and one does not.  They both seem to go for around the same amount in ebay auctions that I've tracked, but I've only seen the NSS version a few times.  I know that some original movie posters didn't have NSS numbers, but I'm not sure what the deal is with this one since there are the two versions.  I've googled countless times in search of an answer but I'm not coming up with anything.  I know that the NSS number is a big deal in some situations and not so much in others; is the one without the number any less of an "original"?  I figured with as popular as the Star Wars posters are that I wouldn't have any trouble finding the info but so far no luck.

Its not really important to me which one I get; I just like the poster a lot.  My main interest is to avoid a situation like the one I had with the LOTR poster and end up paying more than what its worth. 

Again, thank you for the warm welcome and all the help!


Offline brude

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #19 on: January 20, 2012, 07:11:23 PM »
If I remember correctly, the NSS version was used theatrically and the unmarked version was produced for the Star Wars Fan Club.
I have the NSS version and have never seen the unmarked one except on the internet.
You might want to check http://www.starwarsmovieposter.com/
There are several links on the home page dropdown, under poster links, then reference sites.
Hope this helps.
 cheers




TopsideKracker

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #20 on: January 21, 2012, 05:42:27 PM »
If I remember correctly, the NSS version was used theatrically and the unmarked version was produced for the Star Wars Fan Club.
I have the NSS version and have never seen the unmarked one except on the internet.
You might want to check http://www.starwarsmovieposter.com/
There are several links on the home page dropdown, under poster links, then reference sites.
Hope this helps.
 cheers





Wow, can't believe I never saw that one with all the different searches I did.  Site lists that the poster has two different versions but doesn't get into details, but I do remember one auction stating that he believed his poster was acquired through the fan club but I didn't think that it might be an exclusive offer.  Makes sense now.  Thanks! 

(I guess its safe to assume that the NSS version would be worth more?  I haven't seen it nearly as much on ebay as the fan club version but they both seem to have been going for around the same price so far.)

TopsideKracker

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #21 on: January 24, 2012, 06:13:46 PM »
Well, I got the LOTR poster today and it looks great.  And I'm sure its an original... the mirror-images aren't 100% identical and I'm sure that makes repros a little more difficult.  On the mirror-image side the ring is a bright, bright yellow gob.  You can't even hardly tell its a ring at all.  At first I was like "WTF is this!?!" but when I turned it over the ring looked normal.  For a second, I was a little confused but then I thought about how these were displayed at the theaters with light behind them and then it all clicked.  I'm guessing the yellow from the mirror-image side was to make the ring "glow" somewhat.  Really wish I had the setup to display it that way... really intrigued to see how it looked.  Probably didn't have the effect that I'm imagining in my head, but still a cool concept.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Offline MoviePosterBid.com

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #22 on: January 26, 2012, 03:33:17 PM »
my recommendation is to buy from knowledgable & honest dealers that everyone trust, people like Bruce and Heritage and myself at MoviePosterBid.com where you know that whenever you buy something, it is what it's supposed to be and you can always return it for a full refund

Movieposterbid.com is the FIRST All-Movie Poster Auction Site. We're not #1, but we try harder
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Offline Silhouette

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #23 on: January 28, 2012, 09:54:46 PM »
Both emovieposter.com and movieposters.ha.com have a comprehensive, easy to use website with an excellent pricing history as well as, and just as importantly, an historic gallery which is a good reference and research tool.

When it is all done and said, IMHO if you want it, can afford it then the price you pay is the right price.
« Last Edit: January 28, 2012, 09:57:02 PM by Silhouette »
David


TopsideKracker

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Re: Having a hard time finding the right resources to help me... (SW + LOTR)
« Reply #24 on: January 30, 2012, 12:40:06 AM »
my recommendation is to buy from knowledgable & honest dealers that everyone trust, people like Bruce and Heritage and myself at MoviePosterBid.com where you know that whenever you buy something, it is what it's supposed to be and you can always return it for a full refund

Both emovieposter.com and movieposters.ha.com have a comprehensive, easy to use website with an excellent pricing history as well as, and just as importantly, an historic gallery which is a good reference and research tool.

When it is all done and said, IMHO if you want it, can afford it then the price you pay is the right price.

Thanks for the feedback; my bookmarks are growing strong!  Now if I can just find some decent cheap frames...  ;)