£13,200 Paid For Film Poster

[ollie]

From My local-ish free paper, The kidderminister Shuttle.



£13,200 paid for film poster

A RARE vintage film poster with a Kidderminster link has been sold for a staggering £13,200 - more than double what was expected - at auction at Christies in London.



The poster was produced for the classic 1945 Ealing Studios chiller, Dead Of Night, which marked the directorial debut of Kidderminster-born Robert Hamer, who went on to direct his masterpiece - Kind Hearts and Coronets - four years later, in 1949.



The sophisticated black comedy, which film critic Barry Norman regarded as one of the best 100 films of the 20th century, starred Alec Guinness.



The late Peter Ustinov described the film as "Ealing Studios' most perfect achievement, a film of exquisite construction and literary quality."



The sale of the Dead Of Night poster, at Christies in South Kensington on Wednesday last week coincided with the forthcoming anniversary, on Friday, March 31, of Robert Hamer's birth in Kidderminster on March 31, 1911.



In his book, Quinlan's Film Directors, the movie historian, David Quinlan, described Robert Hamer as "one of the most brilliant yet wayward directors ever produced by the British cinema".



He died, on December 4, 1963, at the age of 52, following an unsuccessful battle with the bottle.



After leaving Kidderminster, Hamer was educated at Cambridge University and began his film career in 1934 as a cutting room assistant for Gaumont-British studios, before joining Alexander Korda's company, London Films, at Denham.



Later Hamer was recruited by Ealing Studios and among his first jobs there was to edit the George Formby film Turned Out Nice Again.



Then, when he was 34, Ealing gave him his directorial debut, in charge of one of the episodes of the omnibus horror, Dead Of Night. His segment, The Haunted Mirror, is now seen as a clever allegory of sexual repression and the disturbing presence of mirrors was to become a recurring feature of Hamer's films.



The Dead Of Night poster was "very rare", according to Sarah Hodgson, film posters expert at Christie's.



Due to paper shortages at the end of the Second World War, the print run for such a poster was comparatively low. Before the auction, Christie's predicted the poster might sell for between £4,000 and £6,000 but the bidding was so enthusiastic the pre-sale estimates were swiftly overtaken.



The poster was eventually snapped up by an unnamed collector and turned out to be the most valuable poster in the auction of 322 film posters, which sold for a total of £333,180.



Sarah Hodgson, of Christie's, said: "The market is currently very buoyant and this sale attracted a significant amount of bids from overseas, as well as the UK."



cheers Ollie.

[Ascoyne D'Ascoyne]

Should look nice on the wall of some bloated plutocrat's mansion.

[mysteriesofedgarwallace]

Some details here

[Steve Crook]

(ollie @ Mar 24 2006, 12:31 PM)

From My local-ish free paper, The kidderminister Shuttle.



£13,200 paid for film poster

A RARE vintage film poster with a Kidderminster link has been sold for a staggering £13,200 - more than double what was expected - at auction at Christies in London.

Silly sod.



Steve

[theuofc]

(mysteriesofedgarwallace @ Mar 24 2006,

Some details here

Thanks, Moew. If 17.5% VAT is being charged, does that mean that the buyer is from the UK? or is it invoiced regardless and the buyer has to apply to have it removed?



Thanks,



Barbara



"13,200.00 British pounds

Special Notice No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.



Lot Description Dead Of Night

1945, Ealing, British quad -- 30x40in. (76x105cm.), (A-)

Art by Leslie Hurry"

[theuofc]

(Steve Crook @ Mar 24 2006, 06:03 PM)

Silly sod.



Steve

I hope whoever bought it can afford it. I hate to think he/she is an enthusiastic fan who mortgaged his house to buy it.



Barbara

[Harbottle]

Not even a very attractive poster Interesting to see what some of the other items made, quite staggering to see Get Carter make £3,360.

[4737carlin]

Anyone copy a JPG of the image from this quad?



These auctions for some daft reason always go for much more than the same posters go for on ebay ive noticed.



Most ive seen myself that i can recall on ebay was 26 thousand for a Czech King Kong poster.



I got a orig UK Wickerman one sheet poster really cheap a while back, the seller had it listed as Wrickerman and im certain a few missed out because of that spelling mistake

[Third Man]

The "Dead of Night" quad is fantastic and probally the most important British horror poster out there.If one were to compare it's importance to say, the Universal horror classics on the other side of the pond the £13,200 price realised might seem money well spent.

[4737carlin]

Wow, theres 2 lobby cards buy it now $300 each on ebay from this and the title card at $1000!



I got 2 original black and white 8x10's, but i gues i shouldnt start planing a holiday just yet!!!

[David Brent]

(ollie @ Mar 24 2006, 12:31 PM)

From My local-ish free paper, The kidderminister Shuttle.



£13,200 paid for film poster

A RARE vintage film poster with a Kidderminster link has been sold for a staggering £13,200 - more than double what was expected - at auction at Christies in London.



The poster was eventually snapped up by an unnamed collector and turned out to be the most valuable poster in the auction of 322 film posters, which sold for a total of £333,180.



Sarah Hodgson, of Christie's, said: "The market is currently very buoyant and this sale attracted a significant amount of bids from overseas, as well as the UK."



cheers Ollie.

I have had dealings with Sarah Hodgson of Christies, as she has been organising the upcoming sale of a rock concert poster that I own. It is due to come up for auction in London in May.

She is deemed an expert in her field and seems a lovely lady. The truth of the matter though is that even "experts" cannot really gauge an items true value. That is governed by the bidders at the auction on the day. If you get two or more collectors on the day trying to outbid each other for the same item, then of course record prices can be achieved.

Most of the dealers' "estimated value" for an item is pure guess work. Not until the bids actually start coming in do the auction house experts really know an items true value.



Dave.

[David Brent]

(theuofc @ Mar 24 2006, 07:17 PM)

Thanks, Moew. If 17.5% VAT is being charged, does that mean that the buyer is from the UK? or is it invoiced regardless and the buyer has to apply to have it removed?



Thanks,



Barbara

Hi Barbara,



I'm not sure about the VAT charges for buyers. You could probably find out that information at Christies website

Christie's - Home Page



For sellers Christies charge a 15% commission on the first 1,000 pounds and then 10% thereafter.

There is also a 1.5% insurance charge and a catalogue illustration charge of 90 pounds.

Should the item for sale not be sold then all charges are dropped and only a handling fee of 30 pounds is charged + shipping costs.



Dave.

[smudge]

When I met Ealing Editor/Producer Sidney Cole years ago, we were talking about the old studio and he reflected dryly that the day before he'd been lunching with Michael Relph, and the subject of memorabilia came up. Back then some film poster (LADYKILLERS IIRC) had just fetched a reasonable amount of cash in auction and Sid said to Michael, "If only we'd known. Such bits and pieces were ten-a-penny when we were at work. We should have brought a few home !"



SMUDGE

[sanndevil]

(theuofc @ Mar 24 2006, 07:17 PM)

Thanks, Moew. If 17.5% VAT is being charged, does that mean that the buyer is from the UK? or is it invoiced regardless and the buyer has to apply to have it removed?

Nope - VAT is always charged on the commission Christies make on the hammer price - because they are VAT registered.



Similarily, if an individual or organisation are flogging a lot, and they are VAT registered, then VAT must be charged on the hammer price too. VAT is a European wide 'end user' tax, so theoretically the lot can originate from anywhere in the European Union if the catalogue states that VAT on the hammer price is due.



Hope that clarifies it. I've had a few 'discussions' with HM Revenue and Customs in the past Strangely enough, said 'discussions' always seem to be one way.



I too have had many dealings with Christies posters department over the years and know one of the experts Sophie North quite well. I will stress that my knowledge of movie posters is not as great as my primary interest - travel and transport posters, but from my experience the valuations are always going to be empircal at best. The problem the staff face is the territory is so large, and some posters come up so infrequently, that it is truly guess work. Like all auctions if you get to rich bidders willing to go the distance, then anything can happen.

[theuofc]

(sanndevil @ Mar 25 2006, 09:39 AM)

Nope - VAT is always charged on the commission Christies make on the hammer price - because they are VAT registered.



Similarily, if an individual or organisation are flogging a lot, and they are VAT registered, then VAT must be charged on the hammer price too. VAT is a European wide 'end user' tax, so theoretically the lot can originate from anywhere in the European Union if the catalogue states that VAT on the hammer price is due.



.... Like all auctions if you get to rich bidders willing to go the distance, then anything can happen.

Excellent details Thanks so much, Sanndevil. Probably then, the buyer would not have been outside of the EU, do you think? That's a lot of extra tax money on top of the bid. But as you correctly say, rich and/or compulsive bidders will go the distance. I wonder how much it will cost to insure the poster once the bidder hangs it up.



Best,



Barbara

[theuofc]

(David Brent @ Mar 25 2006, 05:42 AM)

Hi Barbara,



I'm not sure about the VAT charges for buyers. You could probably find out that information at Christies website

Christie's - Home Page



For sellers Christies charge a 15% commission on the first 1,000 pounds and then 10% thereafter.

There is also a 1.5% insurance charge and a catalogue illustration charge of 90 pounds.

Should the item for sale not be sold then all charges are dropped and only a handling fee of 30 pounds is charged + shipping costs.



Dave.

Thanks, Dave. Very interesting about Christies' charges. Good luck on your rock poster sale. I've seen some rare Jimi Hendrix posters go for very high prices.



Barbara

[theuofc]

(smudge @ Mar 25 2006, 08:34 AM)

When I met Ealing Editor/Producer Sidney Cole years ago, we were talking about the old studio and he reflected dryly that the day before he'd been lunching with Michael Relph, and the subject of memorabilia came up. Back then some film poster (LADYKILLERS IIRC) had just fetched a reasonable amount of cash in auction and Sid said to Michael, "If only we'd known. Such bits and pieces were ten-a-penny when we were at work. We should have brought a few home !"



SMUDGE

Hello, Smudge,



I much enjoyed your anecdote about meeting Sidney Cole and his and Relph's comments on old posters. There are universal groans, including mine, about all the items that were tossed in the dustbins or ignored at the time.



Did Sidney Cole ever write his memoirs of his days as a producer and editor? I would love to read his comments on Went the Day Well, Gaslight, Danger Man, and so many others.



Best,



Barbara

[film buff]

When I left school in 1944, I went to work for a local newspaper, and one of my jobs in the mornings was to bail up the paper from the offices, some of it was film advertising material sent in I think from the film distributers, as I was mad about the cinema I used to take some of the things home, If only I had kept them, some of it might have been worth something today, you just don't know when you see these things at the time, I used to bail up loads of it.



Alan

[Steve Crook]

But if you, and others, hadn't thrown them away - then they wouldn't be as valuable today.

They're mainly considered to be valuable because they are rare because nearly everybody did throw them away.



Steve

[penfold]

(theuofc @ Mar 25 2006, 10:45 AM)



Did Sidney Cole ever write his memoirs of his days as a producer and editor? I would love to read his comments on Went the Day Well, Gaslight, Danger Man, and so many others.



Best,



Barbara

I don't think so, but I would be surprised if there aren't some oral history interviews held by the Bfi as part of the BECTU project holdings....and there are a few pages of interview in Brian Macfarlane's Autobiography of British Film.....