The greatest and most horrific monsters, aliens and giant mutated creatures in the history of cinema, including Frankenstein, Dracula and The Wolf Man, will be on the block as part of Heritage Auctions’ July 16-17 Signature® Vintage Movie Poster sale at the company’s Dallas headquarters, 3500 Maple Avenue.
“Collectors will have a chance to acquire more than 1,275 different lots from across all genres and ages of film,” said Grey Smith, Director of Movie Posters at Heritage. “This is one of the best offerings of some very rare material that we have seen in several years.”
As usual, classic horror is king in vintage movie poster collecting circles and top offerings in this auction read like a Who’s Who of the genre, including a stunning 1935 Werewolf of London insert poster, estimated at $30,000+, from the classic film starring Henry Hull as a scientist on a quest to far away Tibet in search of a rare flower. There, he is bitten by a werewolf, taking on the dreaded lycanthropic curse and going on a killing spree that terrorizes London until Scotland Yard finally brings him down.
A 1941 The Wolf Man half sheet poster (estimate: $20,000+) featuring Lon Chaney Jr., in his greatest and most terrifying role as the silver screen’s greatest werewolf is also sure to thrill collectors when this exceptionally scarce half sheet comes up for bid.
Looking deeper, highlights of the horror classics represented in this auction include a superb 1931 Frankenstein lobby card (estimate: $10,000+), one of only two known 1931 Dracula lobby cards from the Universal Spanish language adaptation (estimate: $8,000+), a very rare 1935 Bride of Frankenstein lobby card (Estimate: $9,000+), a graphically striking 1932 window card for Murders in the Rue Morgue (estimate: $8,000+), a splendid Paramount 1931 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde insert poster (estimate: $6,000+), a sensational 1932 White Zombie lobby card (estimate: $4,000+) and a shimmering 1942 insert poster for RKO’s Cat People (estimate: $5,000+).
From the Science Fiction genre classic titles include an amazing 1927 Metropolis jumbo lobby card (estimate: $14,000+), an advance black and white promotional poster for First National’s 1925 Lost World (estimate: $5,000+), a rare 1951 one sheet (estimate: $10,000+) from Day the Earth Stood Still, a very fine 1953 one sheet movie poster from War of the Worlds (estimate: $10,000+), a classic 1956 one sheet from Forbidden Planet (estimate: $8,000+), a massive six sheet from 1953’s Invaders from Mars (estimate: $2,000+) along with classic posters from almost any other title in the genre.
Other offerings in the auction include a great selection of more than 100 lots of great vintage Hollywood photography, including an amazing collection of exhibition size photos (16” X 20”) and signed photos by such stars a Theda Bara (estimate: $400+) and Carole Lombard (estimate: $400+). Also included are such rare items as a signed first edition copy of the Edna Ferber classic Giant signed by the whole cast including James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor to Hollywood columnist Louella Parsons (estimate: $6,000+).
Image: Werewolf of London (Universal, 1935), Estimate: $30,000 – $50,000.
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