Casablanca Six Sheet Brings $107,550 at Heritage
DALLAS — A massive six sheet movie poster for Casablanca, one of just two copies known, bid a fond ‘Here’s looking at you, kid’ to its pre-auction estimate of $60,000+ to realize $107,550 in Heritage's Vintage Movie Poster Signature® Auction. Measuring an impressive 81” x 81,” the poster took top lot honors during the March 23-24 event which brought $1.72+ million and was 96.4% sold by value.
“This is the largest Casablanca poster we’ve ever offered at Heritage,” said Grey Smith, Director of Movie Posters at Heritage. “It is always a pleasure to manage the sale of a rare find like this six sheet - this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to own this particular poster and the price proves it.”
Several rare posters doubled their estimates with a one sheet for MGM's 1932 classic Tarzan the Ape Man reaching $65,725 and the poster for D.W. Griffith's controversial epic Birth of a Nation, depicting John Wilkes Booth leaping onto the stage of Ford's Theater after assassinating President Abraham Lincoln, realizing $47,800.
Collectors remain devoted fans of famous movie monsters, as a CGC graded lobby card for 1931’s Frankenstein realized $38,837. Two scarce posters for RKO’s King Kong brought impressive prices, as a reissue one sheet on linen fetched $35,850 and a Swedish oversized poster, depicting Kong grappling a biplane and a cringing Fay Wray, brought $26,290. A 1938 reissue poster for Universal’s Dracula, sporting a classic visage of Bela Lugosi, sold for $20,315.
Posters for iconic animation sold briskly, as a 1932 Mickey Mouse stock poster delivered $26,680 and a stock poster for 1941’s Superman cartoon series by Paramount/Fleisher Studios sold for $23,900. An impressive six sheet for Columbia’s 1948 Superman live-action serial sold for $15,535.
Additional highlights include, but are not limited to:
A 1942 one sheet on linen for Casablanca sold for $17,925.
A half sheet for the 1927 Buster Keaton classic The General fetched $16,730.
A one sheet for 1954’s Creature From The Black Lagoon brought $15,535.
A graceful Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers helped a gargantuan 24 sheet for 1936’s Swing Time, measuring 104” x 232”, sold for $15,535.
Heritage Auctions is the largest auction house founded in the United States and the world’s third largest, with annual sales of more than $800 million, and 750,000+ online bidder members. For more information about Heritage Auctions, and to join and receive access to a complete record of prices realized, with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit HA.com
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