OK, I'm going to go off on a rant here... Been meaning to write this post for
years, but never got around to it...
Over the last 5 years, movie poster collectors have gotten a lot more
condition-conscious. No offense, but those people just don't understand the
first thing about movie poster collecting, and haven't bothered to think about
it in the slightest. They just look at coin and stamp collecting, comic books,
sportscards, etc... and (wrongly) assume that the same issues transfer over to
poster collecting. They don't. Not in the slightest.
Let me explain...
Collecting is ALL about rarity. But, sportscards and coins and stamps AREN'T
rare... Movie posters are... It's NOT the same thing.
Let's break down the important factors...
Sportscards:
quantity - millions of each card
issued - mint
meant to be collected
slight damage with use
available to the general public
typical display method - protects and does no damage
Stamps:
quantity - up to tens or hundreds of millions of each stamp
issued - mint
(somewhat) meant to be collected
damaged with use
available to the general public
typical display method - protects and does no damage
Coins:
quantity - up to tens or hundreds of millions of each coin
issued - mint
(somewhat) meant to be collected
slight damage with use
available to the general public
typical display method - protects and does no damage
Comics:
quantity - up to hundreds of thousands or millions of each comic
issued - mint
meant to be collected
minimal damage with use
available to the general public
typical display method - protects and does no damage
Paper Money:
quantity - up to tens of millions of each bill
issued - mint
(somewhat) meant to be collected
slight damage with use
available to the general public
typical display method - protects and does no damage
Notice how there were huge amounts of each produced, and each was saved in
massive quantities (with insane amounts of mintstate or near-mintstate examples
of each item).
Now, here is where we see some important differences.
Movie Posters:
quantity - only THOUSANDS of each poster
issued - DAMAGED (folded)
NOT meant to be collected
destroyed after use
NOT available to the general public
NOT saved in massive quantities
typical display method (linenbacking) - COMPLETELY DESTROYS POSTER
Comics, coins, stamps, paper money and sportscards ALL need to create
artificial scarcity, since each is available in such massive quantities, in
decent condition. That's why there's been such an explosion of 3rd party
grading services recently. They need a way to separate these huge quantities
and make some identical items more desirable than others, otherwise, none of
them would be worth anything. That's why you have such ridiculous condition
premiums. There's probably twenty Barry Bonds rookie cards for every
sportscard collector out there. So, they shouldn't be worth that much at all.
They only are because of the artificial scarcity of condition that's been
imposed on the market.
Now, I'm not saying that there shouldn't be a premium for mint posters - but it
should be nowhere near the premium in other hobbies. Nowhere even remotely
close (despite what some poster collectors seem to think)... There's only a
few known copies of many of the top movie posters. Do you really think the one
in the worst condition is worth a fraction of 1 percent of the one in the best
condition??? Of course not. The premium is miniscule in our hobby.
There's tons of reasons why condition is important in those other hobbies -
there's virtually NO reason why condition is important in movie poster
collecting.
If comics, sportscards, coins, etc... were issued DAMAGED, in miniscule
quantities, to insiders only, and were irreparably damaged in the slabbing
process, then the condition-conscious amongst us MIGHT have a point. But, they
weren't... You can easily compare collecting coins to comics. You can compare
sportscards to stamps. Paper money to comics. YOU CANNOT compare any of those
to movie posters. It's a completely different hobby - with completely
different issues, despite the fact that, at first glance, they appear to be
very similar hobbies with very similar issues.
Almost NO comics, coins, stamps, etc... are the only known copy. Virtually
none. Whereas, there are literally hundreds or even thousands of posters that
are one of one. When you are talking about THAT kind of rarity - condition is
NOT an issue. Heck, even the most abundant movie poster is exceedingly rare
when compared to the numbers in all those other hobbies. There's not a hundred
thousand Lawrence of Arabia roadshow one sheets out there - so there's
absolutely NO need to separate the best from the worst, like there is in all
those other hobbies.
A penny in G condition might be worth less than a dollar. That same penny in
MS-69 might be worth ten thousand. The MS-69 is worth so much more, because
it's literally one in a million. One in a hundred million. That sort of thing
DOES NOT translate to the movie poster hobby in the slightest. Movie posters
WERE NOT created in quantity. And, they were not distributed to the general
public. So there's no need to separate the chaff from the gems. They are far
too rare to bother with that. There might be a hundred thousand Mickey Mantle
rookie cards out there (or Spiderman number 1's), so of course the best copies
will be worth a fortune more than the worst copies. But, there's not a hundred
thousand Citizen Kane one sheets out there! Are there even more than 50?
In those other hobbies, the average spread might be 10,000% (probably a lot
more). The condition-conscious collectors look at that, and assume it should
be the same in the poster hobby. But, they aren't looking at it critically.
The spread in the poster hobby shouldn't be the same as the average spread in
those other hobbies - it should be about the same as the spread in those other
hobbies FOR THE RAREST OF THE RARE ONLY. You don't compare apples to oranges,
you compare apples to apples... It should be the same as the spread between a
Honus Wagner rookie in poor and mint, not a Michael Jordan rookie in poor and
mint... If you don't believe me, check out the spreads on the common and the
rare (comics/coins/stamps/cards/etc...). You'll easily see that the spreads on
the widely available items are unbelievably larger than they are on the rarest
items. There's practically no spread on the rare items (just like most movie
posters).
And, again, it's worth pointing out that (probably) 80 or 90% of the most
important movie posters out there have all been completely destroyed by
linen-backing (and 99.9% of them were irreparably damaged on issuance by being
folded). Virtually EVERY major poster has been destroyed this way (it's funny
to note that the condition-conscious amongst us are completely and absolutely
ignorant of this fact, or simply choose to ignore it). That's not the same in
those other hobbies.
When there's a million identical items (like in coin, comic or sportscard
collecting), you NEED to distinguish the best items from the rest. When
there's only a handful (like in movie-poster collecting), it's nowhere near as
important.
Certain poster collectors look at the other hobbies, and assume that the poster
hobby should be exactly the same - without taking time to see WHY those other
hobbies have to be so condition-conscious - they don't take the time to think
critically. They don't understand that the issues in those hobbies ARE NOT the
same as the issues in the poster hobby. Not even remotely close.
That's why it seems like the only people who complain about condition are the
newer collectors, who don't understand the hobby (and the older collectors who
have been swayed by their faulty reasoning). Those people need to start
thinking about WHY condition is such an issue in those other hobbies, and
whether or not it should be the same in the poster hobby. If a Metropolis one
sheet surfaced, it would still sell for 6 or 7 figures, whether it was mint -
or torn to shreds. It wouldn't matter (sure, if it was mint, it might sell for
10% more). In this hobby, condition is not that big an issue.
The dollar-spread between poor and mint in all those other hobbies might be
100,000% or more (and for very good reason). In the movie poster hobby, it's
only (perhaps) 50-100% at best. Not the same league. Not even the same
sport...
There's absolutely no need to create artificial scarcity in the movie poster
hobby. Posters are already scarce to begin with.
Of course, I didn't do a very good job explaining all of this, but you get my
point (I hope)...
Do you think condition would be an issue if comic books (or sportscards) were
issued folded in eighths? Stamps already cancelled and stuck to envelopes?
Coins already worn down?...
Of course not...
Cheers,
Bob
PS. This is not to say that you shouldn't be pissed when someone sells you a
poster claiming it to be in much better condition than it really is...
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