Vintage Movie Poster Offering At Heritage Auctions Tops $1.7 Million

Poster For D.W. Griffith’s Civil War Classic Film Brings $74,687

August 11, 2016

A one-sheet poster for D.W. Griffith’s 1915 epic “The Birth of a Nation” – considered to be one of the most controversial and explicitly racist films of the early 20th century – sold for $74,687 to an HA Live! bidder for more than three times expectations in Heritage Auctions’ summer Vintage Movie Posters Auction. The July 30 and 31 auction realized more than $1.7 million, with top prices paid for pre-war horror posters and uncommon discoveries for classic American films.
“Despite being one of the most influential motion pictures of all time, posters from “The Birth of a Nation” movie are almost never seen at auction,” said Grey Smith, director of vintage posters at Heritage. “I’m not surprised it did well, but I was pleased to see it surpass expectations three times over. The entire auction was a success from start to finish.”
Posters from horror films proved popular, as a rare one-sheet for 1939’s sequel “Son of Frankenstein,” starring A-listers Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and Basil Rathbone, sold for $43,020, and a one-sheet for Universal’s 1939 classic “Dracula’s Daughter” sold for $35,850. A one-sheet for “The Mummy’s Hand” brought $14,937.
Multiple bidders vied for rare paper from Hollywood classics, including one of just a handful of one-sheets known to exist from the 1930 film “Morocco” starring Gary Cooper and Marlene Dietrich. The bright stone lithographed copy – which marked Dietrich’s America movie debut – sold for $40,630. A one-sheet for “The Bell Boy,” the 1918 film starring cinematic comedy giants Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton, sparked a bidding war among ten people to blow past its $3,000 pre-auction estimate to sell for $35,850.
Unusual discoveries sparked intense bidder interest, as a scarce insert format poster for the iconic “Casablanca” sold for $33,460, and a set of three Italian premier display posters for 1966’s “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” – measuring an amazing 39-by-110-inches – sold for an astounding $31,070 against an $18,000 estimate. Famed poster artist Drew Struzan’s original acrylic painting for the one-sheet used for “Cannonball Run II” sold for $21,501. Also, the always popular one-sheet for “This Gun for Hire” realized $15,535.
For further information, visit www.HA.com.

 

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