Why are there no million dollar movie posters?

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

On page 111 of Kirk Hammett's "Too Much Horror Business" Ron Moore claims he tracked down a US 1S for Metropolis but the supposed owner wouldn't show it to him. "I did track down a guy who supposedly had it because I found the guy who said he sold it to him."

[50s]

I had a really wise dealer friend once tell me that if it takes more than a sentence or two to explain to the public why an item should be valued at what it is, then it is really hard for the item to hold it's value

Someone could try to explain for half an hour to me why some paintings are worth hundreds of millions and I still wouldn't get it

[MoviePosterBid.com]

Someone could try to explain for half an hour to me why some paintings are worth hundreds of millions and I still wouldn't get it

Steve, as a former art dealer, I understand your comment, but I can actually state it in a different way, related to all collectibles:

you and I see a value in posters and we are willing to spend real money on them. To the average person, we are insane. I would say the average poster purchase is $200 (not necessarily 1 poster). But when you consider that the average paycheck in the US is about $23k a year, or $400 a week before taxes, it is easy to understand why someone who fights to save $50 for a new pair of jeans (if you can buy them for that price) would think we are completely insane for buying something to look at, or keep in a drawer.

Life is subjective and dependent on your financial position

[Filmlobbycards]

Thanks for the clarification Sean...i have some questions

1. Do you think the Mummy 3 sheet didnt sell because it was laminated?

2. Why was Todd's mummy one sheet a ” suspicious result”?

3. What auction house did the metropolis 3 sheet sell from...and do you think heritage could better handle a piece of that calibre& provide a higher result?

I appreciate your posts..thanks again!!

[MoviePosterBid.com]

Not just lobbies either! I'm scared to check on their listing progress... every time I look there are more and more crazy amazing and rare posters.   

no doubt about it Stew, Heritage does indeed get the very best and the most rare.
Grey clearly works overtime on the phones and I'd hate to see his travel expenses

[wonka]

Sean, does Peter have his own site any more or is he just doing MPE now?

[Filmlobbycards]

And speaking of those lobbies at heritage...i think its fair to suggest that the silent film lobby card sets of The Golem and The Electric House came from the same source...what an incredible find

Rich have you looked through the Leonard Schrader archive of lobby cards?..

[Harry Caul]

1. Do you think the Mummy 3 sheet didnt sell because it was laminated?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Mummy 1-sheet style B is the one that is laminated.  The 3-sheet came out of Europe (Sweden?) IIRC.  There was another partial 3-sheet (just the head) in the same find.  I could be confusing stories though...

[MoviePosterBid.com]

Rich have you looked through the Leonard Schrader archive of lobby cards?..

no. do you have a link?

[Filmlobbycards]

http://www.leonardschradercollection.com/


If you contact David Weisman through the "Contact" email...he will probably give you a protected link access to the archive .. Michael Hawks said it was one of the greatest archives of lobby cards   ..i Think 5000 cards from the 1920's-1930's...It recently sold to OCEAN's Motion Picture archive in India ...and there are over 150 buster keaton cards many of which have never been offered..!!

[MoviePosterBid.com]

thanks Tait. I had no idea his collection was online.
I emailed david

[Harry Caul]

http://www.leonardschradercollection.com/

Holy balls.

[Louie D.]

It recently sold to OCEAN's Motion Picture archive in India

Never heard of this archive.

[Filmlobbycards]

And speaking of coincidences: this looks like its from today

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/indias-osians-group-launches-online-648154


It's Osian's archive also (Not Ocean's)...here was the initial press release

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2008-07-15/news/27727594_1_osian-lobby-cards-screenwriters

[MoviePosterBid.com]

it's mind-boggling how an organization in India wants to put together a film archive, but aside from the Academy, no Hollywood big wigs are interested

[Filmlobbycards]

Absolutely Rich...It is rather disappointing to think that so many 10's of millions going into the advertising of a single film ....yet an archive of 8,000 lobby cards gets passed over....and yet the telling comments about Mr. Tuli's "Vision" are really interesting in this context:

“Thus, India becomes the first country to freely reveal comprehensive and authentic auction data which has been the preserve of a few elite groups or available in fragments for a monthly fee,” said Tuli. “Today it is pivotal that the public has free access to this vast integrated knowledge-data pool, because without this none of the economic and financial infrastructure players will grasp the nature of the art object as a cultural collectible and asset... Many of the problems and mindsets faced by the Indian art market over the last decade will vanish overnight.”

However Mr. Tuli....nothing you say can make the material in Archive book - Keaton-0159 - vanish overnight.....and into my collection!!

[MoviePosterBid.com]

3 words - Debbie-Reynolds-Collection

it should have never been allowed to leave Hollywood

I can't find Schrader's stuff on that site (which seems burdensome via my warehouse dsl)

[Filmlobbycards]

Yep...that was a sad day when the Reynolds collection was savaged...

the http://osianama.com/ site is a big terd in terms of searching prowess...i couldn't find the Schrader collection either

The secure site that Mr. Weisman has control over is subject to access by individual I.P.'s (protected from an internal I p protection system) so you have to wait for his link and password..

It is meticulously laid out in Alphabetical order...by director, stars etc.. he kept them in portfolio books and I believe they were inserted in the archive holding true to his (Mr. Schrader's) design.. This secured archive is for Books 0001 - 0262 ...(Who knows how Osian's will place them..) However its still incomplete and some of the books are wrong (or were linked to the wrong pictures) and/or incomplete

Highlights include:

Book 0192 - Dracula title card & 6 scene cards and what looks like a mini window card (top trimmed)

Book 0178/0179 - lon chaney cards including 4 scenes from London after midnight & Trimmed TC  &  complete sets of The Unknown & Road to Mandalay

Book 0159 - Complete Keaton Lobby card sets of The General, The Paleface, The Cameraman, Our Hospitality, College, The Navigator, Sidewalks of N.Y., What No Beer?  & Spite Marriage

[oldposterho]

Sorry to jump the topic around, but does anybody know what the actual Metropolis US one sheet looks like?  Is there a pressbook?

--Peter

[MoviePosterBid.com]

Yep...that was a sad day when the Reynolds collection was savaged...

the http://osianama.com/ site is a big terd in terms of searching prowess...i couldn't find the Schrader collection either

The secure site that Mr. Weisman has control over is subject to access by individual I.P.'s (protected from an internal I p protection system) so you have to wait for his link and password..

It is meticulously laid out in Alphabetical order...by director, stars etc.. he kept them in portfolio books and I believe they were inserted in the archive holding true to his (Mr. Schrader's) design.. This secured archive is for Books 0001 - 0262 ...(Who knows how Osian's will place them..) However its still incomplete and some of the books are wrong (or were linked to the wrong pictures) and/or incomplete

Highlights include:

Book 0192 - Dracula title card & 6 scene cards and what looks like a mini window card (top trimmed)

Book 0178/0179 - lon chaney cards including 4 scenes from London after midnight & Trimmed TC  &  complete sets of The Unknown & Road to Mandalay

Book 0159 - Complete Keaton Lobby card sets of The General, The Paleface, The Cameraman, Our Hospitality, College, The Navigator, Sidewalks of N.Y., What No Beer?  & Spite Marriage

sounds like great stuff as is expected
and I did go to the site earlier. my dsl can't handle it. I'll have to look when I get home

[crowzilla]

Tait:

1) Yes, it was the Mummy 1-sheet that had been laminated to board, I think the 3-sheet didn't sell because even at less than half a million it was just too expensive (it was even offered to the famous "bidder #2" who was paying crazy prices for items at Heritage and she declined).

2) You had to be at the auction to get the feeling something was wrong. The buyer knew the seller, and as far as I know he has not purchased another poster before or after. Bruce could probably say more when he returns from his sabbatical.

3) I believe that Sotheby's sold the Metropolis. I would have to check my old auction catalog notes, but if I remember correctly they had both styles available at one time. The credits style got one bid (the minimum) and the non-credit style did not sell during the auction (no one wanted to pay the $200K) and actually sold afterwards.

And yes the Electric House and Golem are from the same find (as well as the Hayseed, Idle Class, American Wife, and scores of others of those early lobbies - pretty amazing).

Wonka:

Peter is just doing Movie Poster Exchange now (and I think he's doing a heck of a job - the site looks incredible, it has gone through a major facelift since i left and seems much more streamlined). The sold item database is growing, the auctions look good and somehow he's finding time to slowly add fixed price items as well.

[erik1925]

Sorry to jump the topic around, but does anybody know what the actual Metropolis US one sheet looks like?  Is there a pressbook?

--Peter

Peter, I did come across this image. I don't know if this is a first release OS or not, tho. It was printed by the Morgan Litho Co, Cleveland, No 40953; and per the fine print on the lower right border: "This Poster Leased from Paramount Famous-Lasky Corporation"

[Filmlobbycards]

Thanks Sean...I always appreciate the clear picture you present in your answers...

Can you elucidate any details on the find of lobby cards that includes The Golem and The Electric House?
(for some reason I am drawn to lobby cards and window cards....kind of like I prefer longboards to short boards when I surf...it's just the "feel" of them)

I'm more interested in the history of finds than what they fetch or who handles the sale...

It would be an interesting service to the history of the hobby to have a database of these finds and put them in some sort of logical/accessible/narrative of order...not only would it aid in the security and "provenance" but it would be (and in some ways a supplement to the price guide that is much needed) a real foundation that would only help the hobby..

[crowzilla]

That is definitely the WC Eric.

[erik1925]

Thanks, Sean.