Sometimes you can’t but end up kicking yourself for what seemed like a good idea at the time. 

By 2003 I had amassed a large collection of movie posters, of which I was only able to display a small fraction.  I had also moved for work to Asia and was only able to bring a very small selection of posters with me.  So most sat in a drawer in my parents’ house in the UK.  By this time, I had begun to realise that some of them were quite valuable and I became concerned that they might decay and become worthless if left in a cupboard. So I decided to sell the majority of my collection. 

I contacted Christie’s  in London, who regularly held movie poster auctions. They provided valuations, most of which I was happy with at the time, so I consigned a bunch of posters to the sale.  Years later I bitterly regret doing this.  At the time, I thought I had done well – I made about £10k on the sale. But now, those posters would be worth way more than that.   

This Bond poster fetched about £2000 at the time, but I’ve since seen it for sale for 5 times that amount recently.  I really liked the image (and the film – one of the very best Sean Connery Bonds), but it always bugged me that the top left hand corner of my copy was missing. I did not realise at the time I could have got it professionally restored. You live and learn – hopefully – I guess. Money aside, I really wish I had still kept that collection together!   

This images above are the cover from the auction catalogue and the page featuring “my” poster.   I wonder whose wall it is displayed on now….?

I have also recently picked up the French grande poster above. This is from a 1980s re-release and has nice art by Boris Grinsson. So nice it was featured on the cover of the James Bond poster book my wife bought for me a few Christmases ago. I like this poster but have nowhere to display it so am planning on selling it. It can be found here to buy.

It’s not quite in the same league, but I do still own one piece of original memorabilia for From Russia With Love, which I picked up quite recently, Its a Spanish herald (postcard sized flyer), which I hope to get framed some day for my desk.