Film poster auction in UK to fetch £170,000

Of the 312 posters that are up for sale, a great many depict the iconic big guns of the 20th Century. These include the most valuable item, a rare 1941 original promo of High Sierra featuring the eternally smooth Humphrey Bogart and touted at a whopping £10,000, as well as one of Audrey Hepburn striking her charmingly winsome pose as Holly Golightly for Breakfast at Tiffany’s (expected to fetch £4,000), and a largely unseen The Great Escape poster made for the UK with Steve McQueen evading capture in an RAF jacket rather than his usual leather attire (expected to sell for £1,200).

Add to these an extremely rare Star Wars poster (only ever displayed for six weeks before being replaced by the now instantly recognisable version) valued at £1,500, as well as the first James Bond advertisement to feature Sean Connery in his arm-across-chest nonchalant gun-toting pose in From Russia with Love, valued at £3,500, and it’s the place to be for all those clever-collectors, or those just wanting something a bit different, (and let’s face it, pretty damn cool) to grace their wall.

The collection includes prints from all over the world, and as such is expecting to attract worldwide attention, whilst the items themselves are in fabulous condition and have been linen-backed to keep them looking as fresh as they did when the films were released. John King of Reading’s Cameo Auctioneers, who are handling the items, has assured buyers of the posters’ originality: “They are not re-prints but the original first-run ones. That makes a big difference. Not many posters were initially printed for new films. It wasn’t until you could see how successful the film was going to be before a second run was printed.”

So, if you’re interested in making a super-cool investment in these depressing times of recession, get yourself down to this auction in Reading today (hurry, as it started at 11am!), or take part in some live Internet bidding at the Cameo Auctioneer’s website here. We at team Boxwish, meanwhile, will be heading over to our local cinema to see if they want to donate that Avatar poster to us before anyone else has the same idea…

[via The Telegraph]