When it comes to the collecting of vintage movie posters, one thing holds true above the rest: Classic horror is king. If there was a shred of doubt anywhere in the collectibles world, that doubt was shattered March 20′2, when a 1931 Style B one-sheet Dracula poster sold for $310,000, anchoring Heritage Auction Galleries’ spring vintage movie poster auction, which generated $2.5 million †the second highest movie posters auction on record, according to Heritage.
The Dracula poster is one of only three known existing copies in this style, and it has a rock solid provenance, coming from the collection of Nicolas Cage.
If the Dracula poster performed up to expectations, it was a rare 1932 insert poster for the notorious Irving Thalberg-produced MGM horror movie Freaks that was the breakout star of the auction. A vintage movie poster purchased for $10 in a Southern California antiques store in the early 1970s, it sold for $107,550. Emerging as it did just two weeks before the auction as the singular poster it most certainly is, the determined winning bidder said he has wanted to add it to his collection for years.
The consignor, Anne Stafford, from Corona Del Mar, Calif., said she agonized over spending $10 to buy the poster for her husband, Phil, at a local antiques store in the early 1970s. Knowing of her husband’s love of B-movies, and for Freaks, she spent the sawbuck. Almost four decades later that initial investment has paid off more than 10,000 times.
The winning bidder, Ralph DeLuca, is a retired financial executive and a longtime collector from Madison, N.J. He said he intends to hang the poster in a place of honor on his wall next to his other famous horror movie posters, including the Dracula poster he also purchased at this auction.
“I am writing a check for both of the posters and am sort of in shock,” DeLuca said after the auction. “Freaks is a film that I loved and always wanted a poster from, and Dracula, well, it is one of the most important movie posters in the world,” said the movie poster expert, “it’s just the best there is.”
The other top highlight of the auction, which also brought more than $100,000, was a stunning 1933 stone lithograph for Walt Disney’s The Mad Doctor, released by United Artists. A surreal masterpiece of both cartoons and horror in its own right, apart from its early Disney pedigree, the poster attests to the lasting craftsmanship and artistry of the H.C. Miner Lithograph Company. There is only one other copy of this poster known to exist, and it is reportedly in lesser condition.
“The chances of seeing this poster come back on the market anytime soon are very slim,” said Smith. “This is a once in a generation poster, if that.”
All prices given include a 19½ percent buyer’s premium.
Heritage Auction Galleries is at 3500 Maple Avenue. For information, 800-872-6647 or www.HA.com .
