Thanks for the kind words, Glenn. Whether it is a Metropolis insert or lesser RKO posters, the minds at MoPo don't set the prices, but rather those who actually collect those items.
I look at relative value in buying what I collect. Often, you can buy one really great poster, or you can buy 100 or more lesser ones for the same price. Which is right to do? Whichever makes sense to you! That is why my pressbook collection is missing some of the very best ones, because for me, I would rather buy 300 rare silent pressbooks than one pressbook from Dracula. But other collectors make other choices. One thing to recognize is that when "hot" posters "cool off", their prices sometimes drop by 50% or much more. But "cold" posters rarely drop very much at all! Bruce On Sat, Mar 20, 2010 at 10:31 AM, Glenn Taranto <[email protected]> wrote: > This is an interesting topic to me. Poster value has been a big subject > in the last few days. New poster prices vs. older poster prices and now this > Metropolis conversation. > > I've been making a study of something I was personally involved with and > had planned to report back to the group a little later but now seems like a > good time to offer my preliminary findings. > > I consigned to Bruce a lot of 70 vintage, lesser title, lesser condition, > posters. This was the same lot I offered to MOPO members less than a year > ago. > > No one was interested at 750. I don't recall anyone even making an offer. > In fact, one of our more esteemed members emailed me privately to say there > wasn't one poster on the list worth ten dollars and I should break them > up sell them in smaller lots. > > In Bruce's auctions 2 of these posters sold for 112.00 and 124.00. Several > sold in the 50 - 60 dollar range and again many sold in the 30 - 40 range. > One title, the one in the worst possible condition sold for 45.00! > Individually these posters sold for over double what I offered them for. No > one is more surprised than me since I was convinced, by MOPO standards, I > bought a pig in poke. > > What I realized from all this is no one in the hobby really knows anything, > people are willing to spend good money on precisely what they want and no > poster is worth the price when either buying or selling. > > Bottom line of the study... > > It's all a crap shoot so you better collect what you like and consider > yourself lucky if you sell it for more than you paid. > > GT > > ----- Original Message ----- > *From:* Bruce Hershenson <[email protected]> > *To:* [email protected] > *Sent:* Saturday, March 20, 2010 5:56 AM > *Subject:* Re: [MOPO] Any bets on METROPOLIS? > > Here's the thing about expensive movie posters. It doesn't amount to a hill > of beans what all the "rooters" think a poster *SHOULD* sell for. All that > matters is what the few well-heeled bidders think, and when one of the major > players (Kirk Hammett) switches from buyer to seller, that is a *HUGE > *reversal > in the tiny high end part of the hobby. > > The entire hobby is a pyramid. I have sold to 31,000 movie paper fans, and > maybe 20,000 of those would never spend even $100 on a single item. Probably > another 8,000 would never spend $500, and probably another 2,000 would never > spend $1,000. That last 1,000 or so *HAVE *spent $1,000 or more on a > single poster. > > How many have spent $40,000 or more? A couple of dozen or so. And it is > what *THEY *think of the Metropolis insert that matters, not what anyone > else thinks. > > I am content to keep mostly selling to those 20,000 who like posters > between $1 and $100. THAT part of the hobby is doing quite well! > > Bruce > > P.S. My estimates are wild guesses, although I could, if I wanted, analyze > my sales and see the actual numbers. The true numbers might be off, but the > basis concept is 100% sound. The top of the pyramid is incredibly tiny, just > as it is in comic books, or baseball cards, or Van Gogh paintings. > > On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 11:00 PM, Richard Halegua Comic Art < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> first time I said $75-125k >> then I said $100-125k >> >> I still think at $100k, I was closest.. LOLOLOL >> >> >> >> At 08:41 PM 3/19/2010, Bruce Hershenson wrote: >> >> So who was closest? >> >> On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 5:26 AM, allen day <[email protected]> wrote: >> I'll take some of that action. >> >> $168k (includes BP) >> >> ad >> >> --- On Fri, 3/19/10, Brek Anderson < [email protected]> wrote: >> >> From: Brek Anderson < [email protected]> >> >> Subject: Re: [MOPO] Any bets on METROPOLIS? >> To: [email protected] >> Date: Friday, March 19, 2010, 12:45 AM >> >> >> $268,361 Bet 25 cents. >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Richard Halegua Comic Art" <[email protected]> >> To: [email protected] >> Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2010 12:24:36 PM GMT -07:00 US/Canada Mountain >> Subject: Re: [MOPO] Any bets on METROPOLIS? >> >> much less than that I think.. $100-125k >> >> >> At 11:13 AM 3/18/2010, James Richard wrote: >> Is there a betting pool going on what the METROPOLIS poster will go for >> this weekend at Heritage? >> >> I'm thinking around $200,000 (since it is "only an insert" and doesn't >> actually have the image of the robot-Maria on it). >> >> http://movieposters.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=7019&Lot_No=85446 >> >> This Friday, March 19th the 'Rarest Of The Rare' 1927 Metropolis Movie >> Poster is up for Auction <http://??> >> Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com >> ___________________________________________________________________ >> How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List >> Send a message addressed to: [email protected] >> In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L >> The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. >> >> >> Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com >> ___________________________________________________________________ >> How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List >> Send a message addressed to: [email protected] >> In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L >> The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. >> >> Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com >> ___________________________________________________________________ >> How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List >> Send a message addressed to: [email protected] >> In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L >> The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. >> >> >> Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com >> ___________________________________________________________________ >> How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List >> Send a message addressed to: [email protected] >> In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L >> The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. >> >> >> Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com >> ___________________________________________________________________ >> How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List >> Send a message addressed to: [email protected] >> In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L >> The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. >> > > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com > ___________________________________________________________________ How to > UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: > [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF > MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. > > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
