Is the Movie Poster hobby expanding, contracting or Staying the same

smuss · November 2018

I have been collecting for only 5-6 years so my knowledge of the hobby is limited. When I look at price comparisons for many older poster< 60's I don't see much price appreciation, and frequently I see price depreciation. I see this a lot with the old westerns. Those of course may be due to PC (guns, and native American portrayals). Do you long time collectors see an increase in number and activity of movie poster collectors?

CSM_2_Point_0 · November 2018

I would say these are two separate issues. Many long time collectors do not collect for price appreciation (i.e. for investment) but simply for the love of paper/art/movies/having a hobby/or as a social avenue etc.

That said, there certainly seems to be a generational turnover in what titles are in-demand. Many Westerns on the downswing while 70s/80s on the upswing. But then supply + demand also factors in.

The hobby does seem to be expanding in terms of # of collectors -albeit slowly - and what they collect is also changing over time as well.

smuss · November 2018

Thanks,What your saying makes sense. I am watching and buying more 80's stuff because that is what I grew up with, plus its usually more affordable. The reason I considered the price appreciation is because that is usually a good indicator of demand.

Mark · November 2018

This is my basic formula:
25 years from release becomes collectible / gains nostalgia.
25 years later, demand tapers off. Obviously this is a generational influence.
No one can predict the future, but personally, I wouldn't recommend movie posters as an investment. Especially if you are buying one at a time via the internet. Much better to treat as a hobby.

rockabilly777 · November 2018

While I think the best barometer of the question in general would be Bruce, my $0.02 is that prices on the material I look for (pre-60's cars, women, misguided youth, etc) have stayed pretty much the same since I've been collecting (+/- 30 years). I grew up during the 70's and 80's, but I have no interest in collecting posters for those movies.

Bruce · November 2018

You can't look at it in an across-the-board way. Some areas are way up, some way down, some holding steady, etc.

The biggest trend I see is the same it always was, that while true classics of any era generally hold strong, lesser older material tends to decline. You see this most strongly in things like 1940s B-Westerns (people like Eddie Dean or Whip Wilson), where there are almost no people alive who even remember them, and the posters are photographic and uninspiring.

And of course some areas keep defying the naysayers and rise more and more. Just a year after most collectors were shocked by a Jaws one-sheet selling for $1,000, one goes for $3,700 (but admittedly it was rolled and just about perfect). Will it be a $10,000 poster one day?

But here is what I see as the biggest change. Many years ago, it was hard to find ANY old movie paper, so people would "settle" for lesser items (both in terms of content and condition), because they often couldn't find much else.

But NOW, there is so much material out there (obviously at auction, but also from dealers the world over) that hardly anyone sees any reason to settle for a lesser item, when they can surely find something else they want more, and in just a matter of days.

So I am seeing lots of items selling for just a few dollars each that might have sold for much more ten years back. But of course remember that asking prices don't equate to selling prices. Just because dealers were asking $20 each for lots of items that now sell for $1 to $5 each doesn't mean hardly any were ever really selling at $20.

And on the other end, I have never seen a stronger time for top items in nice condition. Looking at recent results it is clear that collectors are willing to go the extra mile and pay record prices for exactly the right items.

Is the Movie Poster hobby expanding, contracting or Staying the same

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