Movie Posters Collection is a Blockbuster
A single-owner collection of vintage movie posters from ‘London’s greatest film fan’ has sold for almost £75,000 in a recent Surrey sale.
Ewbank’s auctioneers sold the collection of film fan Anthony Duggan of Uxbridge, who died two years ago aged 63, who had built up an extraordinary collection of movie posters over his lifetime.
He went to the cinema around 200 times a year, from the age of 16. Every single lot in the poster auction sold, raising a sale total of just under £75,000.
A rare poster advertising the iconic 1977 film Star Wars saw the highest final price of the day, selling for £4,200, well beating a top-end estimate of £1,500.
The British Quad film poster featured art work by Tim and Greg Hildebrandt, and was used when the film was initially released in the UK. However, following the film’s launch, the studio decided the characters on the poster should more closely resemble the actors in the movie, so this Hildebrandt-designed poster was discontinued.
The studio reissued the poster, featuring artwork by artist Tom Chantrell, and it’s his design that is now most associated with the film.
Alastair McCrea, entertainment specialist at Ewbank’s said, “Star Wars memorabilia always creates a buzz when it comes to auction. Anything connected to the original three films in particular is highly sought after from fans all over the world.”
Other posters from this ever-popular franchise also saw high hammer prices, including a set of four double crown posters (20 by 30 inches) promoting the first Star Wars film, which sold for £3,000. Likewise a set of four posters of the same size advertising the 1980 movie Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, also sold for £3,000 against a top-end guide price of £800.
The James Bond series of films is also perennially popular with film fans and collectors in the UK and all over the world. A number of Bond film posters went under the hammer at the end of August.
The highest final price for the Bond posters was for one promoting the 1965 Thunderball movie, starring Sean Connery, which sold for £2,200.
Another for the 1971 movie, Diamonds Are Forever, also starring Connery, had a final price of £1,500; a poster from the 1964 film, Goldfinger, had a final price of £1,300; and one for 1981 movie, For Your Eyes Only, went for £1,200.
A good selection of horror movie posters were on sale, which also proved very popular with buyers.
A poster advertising the 1966 Hammer Film production, The Plague of the Zombies, had a final price of £2,400, and one from 1976 film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, went for £950.