WHAT: The only copy known of a “lost” one-sheet lithograph poster advertising the 1932 MGM film “Tarzan the Ape Man” brought $83,650 recently at Heritage Auctions.
MORE: The poster was one from a cluster found under the linoleum floor of a Pennsylvania home being renovated. Vintage posters are sometimes discovered during fix-up or demolition; they are often found between walls as insulation or under floors as padding.
SMART COLLECTORS KNOW: Intended for display in glass front cases outside theaters and in lobbies, movie posters were printed by studios in varied sizes. In the U.S., early posters ranged from one-sheets (27-by-41 inches), half-sheets done in landscape format (22-by-28 inches), two-sheets, printed to be joined (41-by-54 inches), and window cards intended for the ticket booth (14-by-22 inches). There were other sizes, but those are the ones most often found.
HOT TIP: Unlike with traditional antique furniture, restoration is OK, even desirable, on rare vintage film posters. But it better be expert, as was the work on this, where folds were touched up and pinholes in corners where the paper hung were filled. Finally, it was backed with linen as preservation.
BOTTOM LINE: The homeowners reaped a $219,000 bonanza from movie posters they found under old linoleum.
BOOK IT! A new book by Martin Barnes Lorber and Rebecca McNamara, with an introduction from designer/collector Carolyn Hsu-Balcer, highlights fine cigarette holders from the heyday of smoking. In “A Token of Elegance: Cigarette Holders in Vogue” (Officiana Libraria, $50), pieces from Hsu-Balcer’s 400-plus piece collection include holders from Imperial Russia with gemstones, ones from haute jewelers such as Buccellati and Cartier and many of precious metals and enamels.
