Western Posters

[the hipoisie]

Anybody know anything about old western movie posters? I found a three sheet for a 1936 Tim McCoy movie called Roarin' Guns, but I can't find any info on it online. It's bright yellow with a picture of McCoy riding a horse, really a great illustration. Guy wants $250 for it and it's still all folded up, but in ok condition. I just can't even figure out a ballpark price for this thing, seems like it could be worth anywhere from $50 to thousands. How do figure what's valuable and what's not?

[ricv64]

I'm of the understanding that old movie posters are expected to be folded

[whippingtom]

Its not a popular title amongst western poster fans. A half sheet sold at Heritage for about $50 a little while back. A 3 sheet might get $200-$300 but you'd be lucky. I'd pass. Just not enough interest in the title. Now if it was 39' 3 sheet for stagecoach... you'd get 50K.

And Jorge is right, folds are not considered defects in any way on any movie poster before 1980.

[the hipoisie]

Awesome, thanks. I saw that half sheet, and the three sheet is a different illustration, but yeah, figured it probably wasn't a popular movie. But then was thinking maybe it was still rare enough to be worth it. I wasn't concerned that much with the folds as far as damage, but rather the extra few hundred dollars to actually be able to hang the thing on the wall. I should probably just concentrate on getting some of my gig posters out of the flat file before I buy any more crap.

[the hipoisie]

Whippingtom, does the printing process have anything to do with the value of these things, too? This poster had some big ass half tones on it, and I see some of the descriptions on the Heritage site bragging about the posters being stone lithos.

[bingybunny]

Posteritati is a great resource for this kind of thing. He might have the exact poster you are describing and you can see what he's selling it for.
Very few of this type of poster were ever screened.

Posteritati -- Original Movie Posters from the Silent Era to the Present

[whippingtom]

Stone litho doesent really command more money in old movie posters. The only thing that matters is the artwork and the title. The reasons to market something as stone litho vary... Some people do like it, its a way of letting the customer know its NOT washed out or faded(see Forbidden Planet below), and maybe most importantly (especially for Heritage) there has been scant bootlegging of the posters made with stone litho process. (unlike traditional offset which has been plagued by some really brilliant bootlegging in recent years).

If anything on the rare occasion a poster was made as both stone litho and as offset litho, the offset will get more money. Below is 2 posters for Forbidden Planet. Left is offset, right is stone litho. The offset sells for 7-8 grand and the stone litho usually a few hundred. People much prefer the offset because it seems so much more vibrant and the stone litho seems really washed out and bland in comparrison. This is not to suggest that stone litho cant produce amazing results but in terms of mass production offset became much cheaper with more options. By the early 50's the NSS with huge offset operations had completely tied up the studios for printing and stone litho was no longer used for movie posters.

[the hipoisie]

Cool, interesting stuff.

[scrojo]

speaking of "forbidden planet" posters and value........

anne francis bought the farm this month. might be the time to hit while the iron is hot.