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Missed Opportunity To Purchase Great Posters.

Do you ever regret you didn't purchase some great posters years ago for prices that by todays standard were ridiculously low prices?

On the 7th of November, 1998 I attended an Auction titled Museum Collection / Major Auction of Mechanical Music at Pickles Auctions in the Sydney, NSW, Australian suburb of Moorebank. The auction was listed as - ''Under instructions from Tom and Chris Coxall due to the closure of their museum in Lynoch, South Aust. and transported to Sydney for Auction, and other vendors''.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Included in this Auction were 66 titles with multiples of some titles making a total of 113 posters. There were 112 Australian one sheets and one daybill,,this being East Lynne. The posters dated from 1927 to 1932  but mostly from 1930 and 1931.The posters weren't in great condition but there were some great titles among them. To wet your appetite  some of the posters up for auction were Pardon Us ( Laurel And Hardy ) x 3, City Streets x 2, Dishonored  X 1, Check And Double Check X 1, A Free Soul X 1, Palmy Days ( Eddie Cantor with a few different designs ) X 9, Rio Rita x 1, The Light Of Western Stars X 1, The Cisco Kid X 2 & Blackmail X 1 ( Hitchcock - marked poor condition in catalogue).

I checked out the posters on display before the auction and marked down the titles that were in fair to good condition that I would bid on.I bid on them but ended up with only four titles for the amount I had decided on. Would you believe $5? There were so many great titles I should have bid higher for that I could have had restored. Looking at the value of titles such as Pardon Us today I could kick myself that I hadn't bid highter to obtain some classic titles.

Anyone have any similar experiences?


Hondo.


Comments

  • I regret not hearing about that auction!
  • I'd love to see a photo of that Blackmail one sheet!
  • I regret not getting this argentinean style B for "Native son" when it was listed at a dealer's site. I'm still kicking myself

    image
  • I'd  rather not say. 
  • I have seen a photo of that Blackmail one sheet but I cant remember where. From memory, about a third of the poster was missing.
  • John said:
    I have seen a photo of that Blackmail one sheet but I cant remember where. From memory, about a third of the poster was missing.
    Couldn't have been at an HA auction then... :D
  • This is a great thread for missed opportunities. I sometimes wonder how lazy we have become in relying on online to find that pot of gold. The number of antique shops in rural states of NSW, VIC are countless - but do we all assume they are dried up and will surface online anyway ?


    http://stylec.yuku.com/topic/6653#.VRXYUzgfq00

    If he is regretting it he must of sold to someone face to face because if he was informed of it's value surely he would not send it out; are the Blue Mountains a pretty easy place to get to?

    An easy 2 hour drive from Sydney.
    I missed by 48 hours an Australian one sheet for both BRIDE and SON OF FRANKENSTEIN in a Blue Mountains antique shop about 20 years ago.
    The gaps on the wall were still there.
    I picked up a few other one sheets for $25 each from the same place from late 30s/early 40s, but the only horror had been those two.
    The shop has long gone.

    The MARK OF THE VAMPIRE is another example of people selling something without doing basic and easy research.        

  • An article about the Pickles auction is here....

    http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/Digests/199811/1998.11.21.12.html

    The author listed many of the lots but dismissed the movie posters with the comment.....

    "Lots 182 to 295 were old movie posters of no interest to me."

  • John mentioned the author said " Lots 182 to 295 were old movie posters of no interest to me".

    To each his Own. I was interested in the movie posters. I arrived early to inspect the posters then had to sit

    through Lots 1 to 181 comprising of mechanical music items that  were of little interest to me. At least I showed a

    little interest and not none at  all like the author.


    Hondo.

  • Mechanical music rocks!

  • Bride of Frankenstein Aussie one sheet!? :-O
  • And yeah I still kick myself sometimes for simply watching the Mark of the Vampire without at least trying to make an offer.  The seller had no idea what he had.  But I have since learned from this mistake!
  • CSM said:
    And yeah I still kick myself sometimes for simply watching the Mark of the Vampire without at least trying to make an offer.  The seller had no idea what he had.  But I have since learned from this mistake!
    Yeah you have. So what big title have you landed that your not sharing???

  • CSM said:
    And yeah I still kick myself sometimes for simply watching the Mark of the Vampire without at least trying to make an offer.  The seller had no idea what he had.  But I have since learned from this mistake!
    Yeah you have. So what big title have you landed that your not sharing???
    Nothing on the Out of the Past level that's for sure...
  • HONDO said:

    At least I showed a little interest and not none at all like the author.


    Hondo.

    Strange that a collector shows no interest in anything collectible. Rarely do I not find at least a passing interest in something old and collectible, even if I do not have any interest in collecting it.
  • Great to see the Blackmail Australian one sheet. I'm sure it is the one sold at the Pickles auction in 1998.Can anyone confirm this? It is possible this is the only copy that still exists and to see it in this condition is better than never having an idea regarding its design.Thinking back now I should have placed a bid, Interesting to know what was paid for it,


    Hondo

  • HONDO said:

    Great to see the Blackmail Australian one sheet. I'm sure it is the one sold at the Pickles auction in 1998.Can anyone confirm this? It is possible this is the only copy that still exists and to see it in this condition is better than never having an idea regarding its design.Thinking back now I should have placed a bid, Interesting to know what was paid for it,


    Hondo

    I think it is the same one, Hondo. I remember seeing the image now. Whoever purchased it consigned it to one of the major auctions around that time They asked me if I had any images that they could use to restore it but I had never seen any other one sheets or press books and it couldn't be restored. It would be interesting to see what the rest of the poster looked like. Surely Anny Ondra would be somewhere in the image.
  • Well this has just happened to me again. I was waiting to bid last second on two posters I needed from a set of 4 ( I have the other two ) and completely forgot to bid, got the wrong day they finished. They went for opening bid.

    This is the first time I'd seen them ..........ever.  
  • Talking about restoring posters John there were certain titles in the Pickles auction with multiple copies  e.g. Politics with 6 copies, Son of India with 4, This Modern Age with 4  and Sidewalks Of New York with 3 where I'm certain the same buyers bought multiple copies to have a better poster restored from their multiple copies which in some cases weren't in very good condition  and I believe the Pardon Us ( Laurel And Hardy ) copies weren't in the best condition. If the same person had bought these three posters they could have ended up with a magnificent restoration one sheet.


    Hondo


  • CSM said:
    And yeah I still kick myself sometimes for simply watching the Mark of the Vampire without at least trying to make an offer.  The seller had no idea what he had.  But I have since learned from this mistake!
    Yeah you have. So what big title have you landed that your not sharing???
    Nothing on the Out of the Past level that's for sure...
    Oh and I was thinking you must of scored big time...
  • Shizer!
  • image
    This just sold at Bruce's auction for $2,211 - does anyone think someone has found an image of the rest of it?




    Peter
  • If not hopefully the new owner is willing to continue the quest!
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