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Movie Posters => General Discussion => Topic started by: mahmudf on October 10, 2010, 11:16:36 AM
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looking over my collection has got me thinking. If I had the chance again with the money i've spent so far and the knowledge i've gained would I buy the same posters again?
When i started out i didnt know how much posters were worth and i ended up buying a few pieces of tat. I sometimes think maybe i should have bought 2-3 fantastic pieces e.g Forbidden Planet 1 sheet or French King Kong instead of the 40 tat pieces.
What would you guys buy if you could start again?
Farrukh
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A house.
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lol surely you cant have spent that much maybe enough for a deposit.
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I think sometimes I spent too much on other area's such as 16/8mm films, Famous monsters and other horror mags, models, toys, etc. But I'm happy how things are going and what I have, And there is plenty to aspire too. It's always the chase that is the best bit. ;)
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yeah Paul its the same for regarding the chase as soon as i've got it i'm already thinking of the next purchase. But life is for living and i'm happy with most of the posters i've bought but i sometimes wonder what if.
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Well Belive me, up until a few years ago I certainly lived life, I'm now almost 50 and have slowed down a bit. Still have fast cars, and enjoy life's other pleasures. Just because you collect doesn't mean no life, unless it goes as far as some I could mention ;) It's all about balance. Alway's enjoy what you do, and never feel guilty.
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In time, possibly, but right now, no, mainly because the stuff I want is too damn expensive. I figured it was better to get my feet wet by buying less expensive pieces, then once I had a better grasp on the market and hobby I'd delve into more expensive MP. Still working on getting a better grasp of the hobby ;D
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I purchased my first poster in 2001 and kept an eye out for steals on what I really wanted. Some of my collection came in a lot that I bought solely for one poster and it kind of bugs me to have stuff I am not crazy about. Although you would never guess from looking at my collection, I am pretty particular on what I want. I really have to fight the urge to drop a ton of cash at times.
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But life is for living and i'm happy with most of the posters i've bought but i sometimes wonder what if.
Same here. Im happy with what I have bought but knowing what I know now I would have spent differently. Less with the quantity and more with the quality.
Instead of blowing all the cash on the 200?(posters,stills,cards) pieces, I would have just bought 15-20-30 that I really want.
Now I see some posters that I really really want but cant afford and I think to myself If I wasnt such an idiot I would be able to buy it.
On the otherhand, I had this figured out months ago but I dont seem to be able to stop myself from buying crap.
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Don't let it get you like that, just "enjoy" I have more crap than good, but I like it. I would still love some of Rich's stuff, but hey, it's all in the Game. 8)
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I'd get a couple hookers instead
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I'd get a couple hookers instead
If i hire 3 hookers for you,can i have your posters?
Stew
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If i hire 3 hookers for you,can i have your posters?
Stew
I already closed a deal for 4 hookers 3 minutes ago
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I made a lot of mistakes since 2001 (when I first started collecting). I still make them, although I've acquired enough knowledge to avoid most of them. Still, I still overpay and kick myself for it.
One of the most important things I've learned is to try to focus your collection. New CJ, for instance, seems to mainly collect Horror posters, and that's great. Chad went with Tarantino. Holiday goes for Japanese posters. I'm more all over the place and came into consolidating my collection much later. I collect Spielberg, for instance, so that's one aspect of my collection I'm proud of. But it can also be draining. For instance, I collect Academy Awards nominated films. I own quite a few of them from the 50s on. That includes lots of re-releases (with different designs). It also means I have to anticipate which movies will get nominated and buy posters I don't really care for just so that I have them when the nominations come, because it might be more difficult to find originals afterward. I just bought Social Network. Couldn't care less about it. I also bought The Town. Same thing. Now, if these movies end up getting a nomination (10 every year now :(), cool, if they don't, I spent money for nothing. It's little money, of course, but over time, it's a lot. But I can't stop, I have too many of these posters to stop now. I sometimes wish I had never started, though, and concentrate on something with a finality instead.
T
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Don't let it get you like that, just "enjoy" I have more crap than good, but I like it.
Oh ya I like all my crap....The problem, for example, I had no business buying this stuff but I thought it looked cool so fool that I am I got it. I have done much this way. So I have drawn this one line. NO MORE STILLS!...so what do I do this week? I go and buy a german program. Help Me. :P
(http://lh5.ggpht.com/_dqFoislHYa4/TLI43DgGFCI/AAAAAAAABp4/jjzUnFqmEXo/s912/Images%20aug%2018.jpg)
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What would you guys buy if you could start again?
Farrukh
Probably a goodly share of Facebook
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I think I would have gone pretty much the same route. I have a handful of rolled posters from the 80s that dont mean all that much to me, but as i think ive mentioned, these were work rescues that would have ended up in the trash, so in that regard, no money outlay.
But when I started getting more into collecting in about 2003 or 04, I was looking for more specific things (Chaney Sr, some horror) and quickly learned how $$ so much of that material can be. So I began to branch out, into foreign posters, but pretty much have stayed in the earlier decades, looking for drawn or stone litho art. But i have bought more modern stuff too, if it has caught my eye.
Like some above have said, it's all about balance and just going with the flow. Ive never looked at it as a race, since the finish line always seems far off in the distance. I guess Im kind of like the tortoise in the well known children's story. The hare can race on. For me, it's the slow boat, easy does it, look, see, learn.
It's what makes it all so fun. And finding the next hidden gem that I alone might find appealing. :)
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Nothing really. Sure we all bought things we wished we didn't, or had yet to be exposed to things we love now, but it's all part of the process of any hobby. The initial years of collecting were the funniest. I wouldn't change anything.
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Since I have little interest in movies I'm thinking I probably should have stuck with what I started on whi h was advertising posters (1950s, 1960s). The art is much more to my liking and print quality miles ahead.
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It's like the stock market, isn't it? Of course we should all have bought Facebook or Apple or whatever and made tons of money, but that's only obvious in hindsight. For me, I certainly bought some crap and overpaid when I started out. But a big part of the joy in the beginning is the buying and seeing new pieces arrive every week. So some of them I didn't like and some I could have got for 1/10th of the price elsewhere, but ultimately the experience and learning of collecting is by necessity making some mistakes in the beginning.
Two years ago, when I moved from USA to Japan, I basically stopped buying posters. I had already scaled down on quantity and instead bought some very high-end pieces I looked for a long time, and with that I felt that I was "done". I sorted and catalogued the whole collection before moving and ended up sending about 1/3 to auction (and probably made the money back on them, so no worries there). What is left is a really great collection, and I'm happy to own it, but apart from the dozen or so posters I have room to display I don't really get to see any of the 600 pieces I have. Sometimes when friends come over and I open a box or draw out a drawer and show some of the stuff I have, I am reminded that I own some amazingly beautiful pieces of art! Maybe one day, when I've moved back to Sweden I'll start buying stuff again, but right now it seems there is not anything I really "need". Except of course more wall space! ;D
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I collect (certain) posters because they are an extension of the movie itself. The fact that they are valuable is merely a bonus for me. I try to get the lowest prices the same way I do everything else I purchase, but not because of investment purposes.
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I collect (certain) posters because they are an extension of the movie itself. The fact that they are valuable is merely a bonus for me. I try to get the lowest prices the same way I do everything else I purchase, but not because of investment purposes. girly2.gif
+1
Best thing I did was to create my "must have " list. It has proven to be more difficult than I expected but really good fun. It has kept me "on track" and "on budget ".
In hindsight I should have abandoned earlier the idea of having 1 poster per decade as post - 70s is outside my comfy zone. I like vintage too much
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Best thing I did was to create my "must have " list. It has proven to be more difficult than I expected but really good fun. It has kept me "on track" and "on budget ".
I like your style.
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I like your style.
Thank you! I take you do something similar?
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I collect (certain) posters because they are an extension of the movie itself. The fact that they are valuable is merely a bonus for me. I try to get the lowest prices the same way I do everything else I purchase, but not because of investment purposes.
This is absolutely how I collect as well. I have very little paper from movies I've never seen, and those usually have some kind of unique or extra-appealing artwork that turned me onto them.
The fun in this hobby, for me at least, is the search for the posters that reconnect me with a feeling or emotion of the time when I saw the film. Even if a poster isn't worth the paper it's printed on, having a tangible archive of the time-and-place it returns me to is priceless.
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I have collected over the years in coins; comic books; original comic and illustration art; movie posters/memorabilia; paperback books; and various cool image ephemera. Even with the lurid covers that I really like, paperback book collecting funds could have been better spent, especially in my early years of collecting. But, who knew?! I still have trouble passing up a cool paperback cover. For movie posters, I've only bought images that I really like myself or thought I could use to trade with other collectors. One exception in posters is I think I bought way too many movie posters in Thailand, though I really enjoyed the chase. Okie
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If I could, when I had the store I would not have raided my personal collection because I couldn't find a desired piece another collector wanted. At one time I had some nice pieces (early OO7, DIRTY HARRY rolled 22x28 & 40x60, HELP rolled insert, etc.) and if I couldn't locate a particular piece at a price cheap enough to make a profit on, I would invariably take it from my personal stash, take one last look at it, and sell it to a grateful customer. Such is the burden of being both a dealer and collector.
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If I could, when I had the store I would not have raided my personal collection because I couldn't find a desired piece another collector wanted. At one time I had some nice pieces (early OO7, DIRTY HARRY rolled 22x28 & 40x60, HELP rolled insert, etc.) and if I couldn't locate a particular piece at a price cheap enough to make a profit on, I would invariably take it from my personal stash, take one last look at it, and sell it to a grateful customer. Such is the burden of being both a dealer and collector.
So, are you saying you are the "everything has a price" Cabman, Cabman? Okie
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Yes. Like it or not, we're not going to be buried with the posters we lovingly collected for years. We may have attachments to them, like good art, a particularly favorite movie, star, director, etc. but there comes a time when you may see a poster you paid $10 for selling for $125 or more and you might think "hmmm, what would I rather have, a piece of paper I can hang on the wall and look at, or some money in the bank".
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Yes. Like it or not, we're not going to be buried with the posters we lovingly collected for years. We may have attachments to them, like good art, a particularly favorite movie, star, director, etc. but there comes a time when you may see a poster you paid $10 for selling for $125 or more and you might think "hmmm, what would I rather have, a piece of paper I can hang on the wall and look at, or some money in the bank".
Just be sure to spend the $$ at some point, too, because you cant take that with you, either, to The Great Beyond. ;)
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Yes. Like it or not, we're not going to be buried with the posters we lovingly collected for years. We may have attachments to them, like good art, a particularly favorite movie, star, director, etc. but there comes a time when you may see a poster you paid $10 for selling for $125 or more and you might think "hmmm, what would I rather have, a piece of paper I can hang on the wall and look at, or some money in the bank".
I want my posters back... sent majority of collection to Emp... big mistake... regretting it so much.. but had to because of the circumstances...
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I want my posters back... sent majority of collection to Emp... big mistake... regretting it so much.. but had to because of the circumstances...
Sorry you had to sell, Big Mike. I guess you can look at it as lucky you had something of value when you needed it, even though it sucks to have to sell. Okie
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Big Mike, I know what you mean. But be glad that you had titles people wanted and paid for, and you had the money to use as you needed.
I know I regretted selling good titles from my collection because I knew it would take me a long time to find replacements in the same condition. Sometimes I couldn't and either didn't replace them at all or bought titles in as best condition as I could find. Being both a dealer and collector really sucks sometimes.
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I think I had pretty good taste for my budget, looking back on things. Nothing that's gone up much in value, but I'm happy with what I've got.
I've always liked lobby cards, but the one buying choice I would do differently, is I would not buy single cards to try to cobble together a set. Yes, it was kind of a "thrill of the hunt" thing that I went through, and you never knew if you'd see another card again in a certain condition... But in hindsight, I have since seen all of these lobby cards sell as complete sets for way less than what I paid in total for my sets. I can't complain too much, though. Those were fun days, ordering a Vincent Price lobby card in "Excellent condition," and opening it up to find a decently NM card. I used to dream of framing them all, but darned if I ever find the wall space. I keep them nicely organized in albums, though, that are fun to flip through from time to time.
Like others, my biggest regret is selling some really awesome stuff that I haven't seen since (like a couple original color fotobustes from the original Italian release of the Claude Rains "Phantom of the Opera"). Made a small profit then, would've made a huge profit if I kept them today. But I always had fun doing a bit of buying AND selling. Could've done worse.
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I think I had pretty good taste for my budget, looking back on things. Nothing that's gone up much in value, but I'm happy with what I've got.
I've always liked lobby cards, but the one buying choice I would do differently, is I would not buy single cards to try to cobble together a set. Yes, it was kind of a "thrill of the hunt" thing that I went through, and you never knew if you'd see another card again in a certain condition... But in hindsight, I have since seen all of these lobby cards sell as complete sets for way less than what I paid in total for my sets. I can't complain too much, though. Those were fun days, ordering a Vincent Price lobby card in "Excellent condition," and opening it up to find a decently NM card. I used to dream of framing them all, but darned if I ever find the wall space. I keep them nicely organized in albums, though, that are fun to flip through from time to time.
Like others, my biggest regret is selling some really awesome stuff that I haven't seen since (like a couple original color fotobustes from the original Italian release of the Claude Rains "Phantom of the Opera"). Made a small profit then, would've made a huge profit if I kept them today. But I always had fun doing a bit of buying AND selling. Could've done worse.
Hi Stefano, I think you make a really good point on single lobbies vs sets on price. Also, some of the singles aren't very good images. Do you still have images of those Phantom photobustas you had? Okie
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I want my posters back... sent majority of collection to Emp... big mistake... regretting it so much.. but had to because of the circumstances...
i've known people who, having sold their record collection, describe the aftermath as if they were going through a mourning
sounds like you are going through something similar
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Hey everyone. It's been awhile and I hope you're all well and that things are great for all of you that celebrate this time of year :)
I sent most of my collection off to sell a few years ago. Thierry and I had a conversation that went something like this:
Holiday: My wife things I'm a hoarder. What do you think a hoarder is?
Thierry: If the stuff is getting in your way, you're a hoarder.
Holiday: I'm a hoarder....
I was tripping on it. Tired of moving it every time I moved. Thierry likes to share how I had a BATHROOM that was dedicated to storing posters. Then my brother died, and the world tilted.
I still have a few hundred of the ones that really are special to me, and those too will likely go some day. But the rest? Bruce said something that rang true for me, sooner or later, most collectors become sellers.
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Hey everyone. It's been awhile and I hope you're all well and that things are great for all of you that celebrate this time of year :)
I sent most of my collection off to sell a few years ago. Thierry and I had a conversation that went something like this:
Holiday: My wife things I'm a hoarder. What do you think a hoarder is?
Thierry: If the stuff is getting in your way, you're a hoarder.
Holiday: I'm a hoarder....
I was tripping on it. Tired of moving it every time I moved. Thierry likes to share how I had a BATHROOM that was dedicated to storing posters. Then my brother died, and the world tilted.
I still have a few hundred of the ones that really are special to me, and those too will likely go some day. But the rest? Bruce said something that rang true for me, sooner or later, most collectors become sellers.
Good to hear your thoughts, Holiday! I think I may have some of that hoarding in me if your coversation with T applies to stubbing a toe on a box of paperbacks. Would be cool to see the few hundred posters that made your cut to today. I sure enjoy APF. Thanks for starting it with T. Okie
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It’s a pleasure to have created APF, and even though I don’t participate like I used to, I remain committed to the vision of providing a place for folks to talk without censureship. And, to do so without being a dick. I’ve been hearing about a few folks being a dick when getting caught up in being right and bludgeoning others with their opinion. Be kind to one another.
As for my remaining collection, it may be time to resort them and shoot some new pics :)
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It’s a pleasure to have created APF, and even though I don’t participate like I used to, I remain committed to the vision of providing a place for folks to talk without censureship. And, to do so without being a dick. I’ve been hearing about a few folks being a dick when getting caught up in being right and bludgeoning others with their opinion. Be kind to one another.
As for my remaining collection, it may be time to resort them and shoot some new pics :)
Happy to see you popping in and out, Holiday. And your last line (in bold) should be one of APF's mantras. Otherwise, this or any forum might dry up and eventually blow away.
And APF has become a great resource for posters of all kinds (and not just movie posters). You and T created a wonderful forum here, that is now 9 years old and counting!! thumbsup.gif
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Hi Stefano, I think you make a really good point on single lobbies vs sets on price. Also, some of the singles aren't very good images. Do you still have images of those Phantom photobustas you had? Okie
A lot of the really good stuff hasn't been seen in a full set in years. Building from singles is sorta fun, and the only way to collect some of these sets. Tell me all about those Dracula or Frankenstein LCS purchases.
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Bruce said something that rang true for me, sooner or later, most collectors become sellers.
Most but not ALL. Still zero interest in selling anything. Does that make me a minority?
T
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Okay, let's go for it. Holiday and I in my jacuzzi a couple days ago. We welcome all comments.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4815/45580280194_c0a4b88a61_z.jpg)
And no, we didn't talk about the forum or any of you.
T
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Oooh. I will never unsee that. :D
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Cigars, white lightnin', and hot tubbing: looks like the left coast with a pinch of southern style! Nice shot, T And Holiday. Okie
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Oooh. I will never unsee that. :D
Pure awesomeness this response! lmfao!!!
I am truly shocked that he posted that, but then again, not really lol. Thierry has been and always shall remain a madman.
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Most but not ALL. Still zero interest in selling anything. Does that make me a minority?
T
I was definitely thinking of you when I quoted Bruce. I don't see you ever selling. Then again, stranger things have happened :)
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"careful where you're flicking that ash"
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I hope those are Cubans you two are puffing on! :D
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Hi Stefano, I think you make a really good point on single lobbies vs sets on price. Also, some of the singles aren't very good images. Do you still have images of those Phantom photobustas you had? Okie
Aye, but I never had the full set. Think I had four or five, and kept two.
They were smaller than today's fotobustes, but larger than US LCs (and printed on similar stock).
Here are two that I sold. One is a "dead scene," but with beautiful colors that show the scale of the production. The other features the four stars near the climax of the film. Enjoy (hopefully the attachment works)!
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Aye, but I never had the full set. Think I had four or five, and kept two.
They were smaller than today's fotobustes, but larger than US LCs (and printed on similar stock).
Here are two that I sold. One is a "dead scene," but with beautiful colors that show the scale of the production. The other features the four stars near the climax of the film. Enjoy (hopefully the attachment works)!
Very cool photobustas, Stefano! Yes, very nice colors and what great shots of the opera house and key scene card! Thanks for sharing as I had not seen these images before. Okie