Olde Good Things, New York City.
Private Collector Wins ‘Outlaw’ Poster for $83,648 in UK Sale
SOUTH KENSINGTON, ENGLAND – Christie’s first vintage film poster sale of 2003 realized $422,368, selling 93 percent by lot, with more than 280 lots embracing all the collectible film genres such as westerns, horror, science fiction, Ealing, Hitchcock and Bond.
Sarah Hodgson, associate director, head of popular entertainment of Christie’s London, said, “I am absolutely delighted with the results of the sale, which realized our highest ever sold percentage since Christie’s began holding sales devoted exclusively to film posters in 1995. There was a packed saleroom throughout the afternoon, with particularly strong interest from America. Many lots exceeded presale expectations, underlining the current strength of the market in London. We look forward to our next sale on September 19.”
A highlight of the sale was the Lisa Caidin Collection. In 1996, Christie’s successfully sold the vintage film poster collection of Stanley Caidin, a prominent Hollywood lawyer. He passed his passion for film on to his daughter, Lisa, who became a discerning collector in her own right. Lisa Caidin died last year. Christie’s offered 72 lots from her collection. Part of the proceeds of the sale will be donated to a number of animal charities, which Lisa Caidin supported as an animal lover throughout her life.
Spanning five decades of cinematic history from the early 1900s to the 1950s, the collection includes posters for classics such as Some Like it Hot, 1959, which was voted the number one comedy of all time by the American Film Institute.
Top lot in the sale was an exceptionally rare poster for Howard Hughes’s 1943 film, The Outlaw. Estimated at $16/24,000, the poster sold for $83,648 to a private British collector. The notorious Hughes often battled with the censors over his films and this one was no exception. He premiered the film without consent at the Geary Theatre in San Francisco where it was shown for only one week before the censors withdrew it due to its sexually explicit nature. This is the first time this particular poster has been seen and it is the only copy known to exist.
Creature from the Black Lagoon, 1954, Universal, US three-sheet, measuring 81 by 41 inches, was the second highest selling poster, realizing $11,153. Another notable lot, at $10,781, was a German poster for Der Blaue Engel/The Blue Angel, 1930. The first film in which Marlene Dietrich starred in and met her Svengali, Josef von Sternberg, The Blue Angel almost instantly made her an international film star.
All prices quoted above include buyer’s premium.
