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It's a Wonderful Life Daybill (RKO, 1946)

It's a Wonderful Life (RKO, 1946). Trimmed Australian Daybill (12.75" X 30"). This great title was auctioned yesterday at Heritage on a Sunday auction and interesting how they call it "Trimmed". I guess they don't know much about australian RKO posters over there. If I were the consignor I would have blasted them for listing it on a sunday auction, because its clearly a signiture auction title. Anyway it sold for $1075.50 US currency converted $1329.44 AUD. I was actually going to bid on it but refrained from doing so, thanks to our resident chief's Australia day auction coming up! Anyhow I thought it would have went for a bit more. Any thoughts?

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Comments

  • Yes I saw it, it's a lovely piece and I had a little go at it. But now with the US dollar so strong (or the Aussie one so weak) it's harder to hold one's metal when one has to pay about an extra 25% for the exchange rate. Personally, I think it went for about the right price in Aussie dollars for the condition.

    I too saw it said trimmed which of course being a RKO I figured was strange as most of theirs at the time were full bleed, but I checked around to be sure and found this:

    image
  • So it was trimmed. Ah the days of 2011 when our dollar outed the US ...good times
  • Sven said:
    Ah the days of 2011 when our dollar outed the US ...good times
    hahaha, indeed, those were the days.
  • I still think this was a good catch. No harm done to the artwork. Just the borders. Congrats to the new owner. :-bd
  • Aha cheeky buggers must of checked Bruces archive too. I always thought it was a normal borderless RKO poster, my bad. Good chance I would have won it if I had ended up bidding, went for quite less than the maximum bid I had in mind.. I guess with the borders trimmed it probably sold for around about the right price.
  • Sven said:
    So it was trimmed. Ah the days of 2011 when our dollar outed the US ...good times
    I don't think it was really making a difference in buying poster wise, at that time poster prices went thru the roof..
  • edited January 2015
    I have seen RKO posters that have been linen backed by restorers with borders mistakenly added because the owner thought that they must have been trimmed. The one Bruce sold years ago does not have measurements but it is fairly unusual for RKO daybills from this era to have borders. Maybe the one that sold on Heritage wasn't trimmed.
  • I guess with the borders trimmed it probably sold for around about the right price.
    I'd agree, but if it had sold for more I wouldn't have gone all Poster Police on it - it's a great piece and well worth owning.
  • Ah ok Reg so prices settled or decreased recently ?.got an example for interest sake? Cheers mate
  • My bet would be it is NOT trimmed and the example in Bruce's archive was restored incorrectly (as John alludes to).  The Where Danger Lives RKO daybill is also under 13 inches (more like 12 1/2 to 12 3/4).  Cornered (another RKO) is the same size...all borderless and untrimmed. 
  • More importantly, as David mentions, why do these signature daybills keep getting placed in the weekly Sunday auction???
  • Its more so when the better titles come up for auction and if the Aussie dollar is strong, collectors seem to go ape in bidding. Were as when the dollar is on the lower end collectors don't put there foot down on bidding. So the prices achieved is a reflection of the current dollar status. There is a pattern and plently of examples of this trend but I don't have the time right now to show..

    In saying that buying posters from US dealers when the Aussie dollar is strong is different.
  • Cheers Reg
  • So given untrimmed any regrets from anyone not bidding harder?
  • edited January 2015
    Sven said:
    So given untrimmed any regrets from anyone not bidding harder?
    Reg doesn't bid on Heritage, the BP is a sticking point. 

    Me, the untrimmed doesn't worry me, I have a Dario just for times like that. I guess I just wasn't ready to buy, I may regret it later if one comes up and goes for double...

    CSM said:
    More importantly, as David mentions, why do these signature daybills keep getting placed in the weekly Sunday auction???
    Reg said that.

    I think for whatever reason they just can't seem to attract the bidders, perhaps antipodeans are tight when it comes to the BP. Still, I am pretty sure a premier auction featuring a strong line up of Aussie Daybills can be achieved.
    ;)
  • David said:
    Sven said:
    So given untrimmed any regrets from anyone not bidding harder?
    Reg doesn't bid on Heritage, the BP is a sticking point. 

    Me, the untrimmed doesn't worry me, I have a Dario just for times like that. I guess I just wasn't ready to buy, I may regret it later if one comes up and goes for double...

    CSM said:
    More importantly, as David mentions, why do these signature daybills keep getting placed in the weekly Sunday auction???
    Reg said that.

    I think for whatever reason they just can't seem to attract the bidders, perhaps antipodeans are tight when it comes to the BP. Still, I am pretty sure a premier auction featuring a strong line up of Aussie Daybills can be achieved.
    ;)
    Actually I have bid at Ha, not often though and I hate BPs! 
  • David said:

    CSM said:
    More importantly, as David mentions, why do these signature daybills keep getting placed in the weekly Sunday auction???
    Reg said that.


    Whoops!

    Did we not discuss the same thing about the Kid Stakes daybill though?
  • David said:
    Sven said:
    So given untrimmed any regrets from anyone not bidding harder?
    Reg doesn't bid on Heritage, the BP is a sticking point. 

    Me, the untrimmed doesn't worry me, I have a Dario just for times like that. I guess I just wasn't ready to buy, I may regret it later if one comes up and goes for double...

    CSM said:
    More importantly, as David mentions, why do these signature daybills keep getting placed in the weekly Sunday auction???
    Reg said that.

    I think for whatever reason they just can't seem to attract the bidders, perhaps antipodeans are tight when it comes to the BP. Still, I am pretty sure a premier auction featuring a strong line up of Aussie Daybills can be achieved.
    ;)
    Actually I have bid at Ha, not often though and I hate BPs! 
    But did you win?  ;)
  • David said:
    Reg said that
    Actually I have bid at Ha, not often though and I hate BPs! 
    My bad, I thought you had said you don't bid at HA.
  • it didn't look trimmed to me, and I thought the price was very low for such a rare item. I also don't bid on heritage, for various reasons.
  • David said:
    David said:
    Reg said that
    Actually I have bid at Ha, not often though and I hate BPs! 
    My bad, I thought you had said you don't bid at HA.
    You're right I did say that, at that point in time I never participated at a HA auction. I only did late last year for the first time. 
  • edited June 2015
    John said:
    I have seen RKO posters that have been linen backed by restorers with borders mistakenly added because the owner thought that they must have been trimmed. The one Bruce sold years ago does not have measurements but it is fairly unusual for RKO daybills from this era to have borders. Maybe the one that sold on Heritage wasn't trimmed.
    I'm going to raise the question on this one again, and agree with what John suggested and we all thought a little funny (an RKO poster with a border) - it 100% wasn't trimmed and the one in the Hershenson/Allen Archive is in fact wrong by showing it with a border.

    I've been doing some photography and threw up some from my NFS box, this measures exactly the same as the HA one.

    image

    In fact on mine down the bottom left you can just make out the print mark for the cut line, on HA's one you cannot, mine has been trimmed marginally wider on the left and narrower on the right - but as I said both are the same size.

    image


    So the bidder on HA got a full size bargain not a trimmed one.
  • edited June 2015

    Another Australian daybill poster that for whatever reason there was no printer's. credits printed on the poster.

    There was another RKO daybill printed around 1945 without printer's credits also that springs to mine. The title was The Spanish Main.


    Hondo

  • Beautiful poster!
  • I like your NFS box, David. If you decide to part with you know who to contact. ;)
  • I like your NFS box, David. If you decide to part with you know who to contact. ;)
    Oh I am sure he will sell the actual box...for the right price of course
  • edited June 2015
    For the most part the contents of the NFS box goes to some kids, some of the others I sometimes do trade with others HOWEVER, I will trade the box itself...for a better one.
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