Peter,
I would tend to agree with your feeling that poster collecting is not
expanding, logic seems to indicate it, but on the other hand you see
some stuff that can't be otherwise explained. An example would be
original posters for the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings films. The
prices for those posters, while not ultra-high, have remained firm, even
though the first of those posters came out 10 years ago. Surely it is
younger people buying/collecting those and similar items and keeping the
prices up? I think the real question -- one that cannot yet be answered
-- is how many of those younger buyers will *remain* movie poster
collectors and, perhaps as they grow older, become interesting some of
the great older posters? After all, great poster art is great poster
art, regardless of when the film came out.
But there is no denying that simple nostalgia is the *big* driver in all
forms of memorabilia collecting. If you didn't see the movie when it
first came out, and remember seeing the poster for it hanging in the
theater lobby, then you might still appreciate the poster, but you are
not going to have that gut-level strong nostalgic pull to fork over big
bucks for it.
-- JR
peter contarino wrote:
I think all of Ron's questions are excellent and on point. I also
think that the answer is "all the above". The economy is awful, supply
outweighs demand, the high-rollers have acquired many of their pieces
and the younger generation(s)would rather text and tweet than watch a
film(literally- I was at a theater recently and the kid a few seats in
front of me texted for the better part of the film). And after all,
like who, you know, would want to, like, watch a black and white film
anyway...and stuff...dude.
I don't know whether the hobby is expanding; you guys would know more
about that. My sense is that it is not. I can't imagine it is bringing
a lot of younger people in. I think the target is 35+ years of age.
Maybe older. For example, my wife and I were spending the weekend with
some friends of ours who just built a getaway home. They will be
retiring in 10 years or so. We got to talking about the website Ken
and I have and then the questions started coming: What does the poster
to "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" look like? Do you have it? And so on.
Bottom line is that they want to do at least one room and maybe more
with vintage paper from films that they love. These are professionals
with money and grew up on classic films who never knew that this paper
existed. I have some ideas about how to tap into that demographic.
Regarding the images that Heritage provides, I have to say that they
are spot on. I spoke with Ken Schacter about this yesterday and we
both feel that the photo/scans are by far the most accurate and
highest quality of any site, auction or not. The catalogs are
unparalleled and are collectable in themselves. Great reference material.
It's an uncertain market to be sure but as Bruce and Grey have pointed
out it is a great time to buy.
/Peter /
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