8


17th December 2011 london selection


poster sales in London continued from page 7


There were solid results for the classic


film posters from the 1960s, such as The Graduate, The Italian Job and Audrey Hepburn’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, in addition to cult favourites such as Star Wars and James Bond. There was also a good take-up for the early horror films, in particular for the kitsch designs depicting monsters clutching scantily clad blondes. The top price, however, was a rare


framed 3ft 5in x 2ft 3in (1.04m x 69cm) poster of Sidney Lanfield’s 1939 adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles. As with many film posters, it is not possible to know how many survive; records of the quantities produced were rarely made as many posters were simply pulled down and pulped once their purpose had been served. However, this was the first example Ms Reilly had ever seen at Christie’s and it was in good condition (A-). It sold to the book for £9500 against an estimate of £5000-7000. Other highlights included a 3ft 5in x


2ft 3in (1.04m x 69cm) 1962 Lawrence of Arabia (condition A) poster dating from before the Oscar posters for the film were released. It sold for double the low estimate at £6000 to an absentee bidder. Meanwhile a 2ft 6in x 3ft 4in (76 x 1.05m) poster for the 1963 film The Great Escape was fought over by two bidders in the room before selling for £2200 – also double the low estimate. A condition A- Monty Python and The


Holy Grail poster from 1974, measuring 3ft 5in x 2ft 3in (1.04m x 69cm) and signed at the time of release by the group, sold in the room for more than three times its £1400 low estimate. Two lots later a signed Taxi Driver poster doubled its top estimate to sell for £1000 on the internet. It had previously appeared at Sotheby’s New York in 1999 where it fetched $3200 – an indicator of the strength of this market a decade ago.


Giving Bed Peace an £80,000 chance


CHRISTIE’S South Kensington sales of rock and pop memorabilia on November 15 and film and entertainment a week later on November 23 included some big- ticket lots. Topping the £385,830 music


Above: Sidney Lanfield’s 1939 adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles topped CSK’s Film Posters sale on November 30, selling for £9500.


Below: a Lawrence of Arabia poster pre-dating the film’s Oscar success made £6000.


sale was a “BED PEACE” placard executed by John Lennon at the Montreal bed-in for peace with Yoko Ono which lasted from May 26 to June 2, 1969. The 2ft 4in x 22in (71 x 56cm) white card was displayed on the window directly above the couple throughout the week as they opened their doors to the worlds’ media. Offered for the first time at auction, it sold at the low estimate for £80,000 to an anonymous buyer. Contributing to CSK’s


£425,030 total for the second sale was a Star Wars Stormtrooper costume used for the first two films of the Star Wars trilogy, A New Hope, 1977 and The Empire Strikes Back, 1980. Against an estimate of £8000-10,000, the signature white armour sold for an impressive £170,000 – again to an anonymous buyer. Elsewhere in the sale, a strait jacket owned by Houdini in 1915 sold for £24,000 against a £15,000- 20,000 estimate.


Top: BED PEACE placard – £80,000


Above: Star Wars Stormtrooper costume – £170,000.


Left: Houdiini straitjacket – £24,000.


£36,000 for Amy’s little Black dress


DRESSES made famous by Audrey Hepburn and Amy Winehouse were the highlights of the Kerry Taylor Auctions, in association with Sotheby’s (20% buyer’s pemium) Passion for Fashion sale in London on November 29. Hepburn wore the ivory lace dress,


designed by Edith Head, in the final scene of the hit film Roman Holiday in 1952, the role that confirmed her as a major star. The dress was modified for her to wear to the 1954 Academy Awards, at which she won her first and only Oscar for Best Actress. Referring to the gown as her “lucky


dress”, Hepburn gave it to her mother, Countess Ella van Heemstra, who passed it onto an American friend in the late 1960s. It remained with that family until the sale, where it was bought by an overseas private collector for £70,000 against a £40,000-60,000 estimate. Beyond the fame of its wearer, the


Above: The Great Escape from 1963 sold for £2200.


dress is unique in the sense that 1954 was the only time an Oscar has been collected in costume. The second dress, shown in the picture above right, by Thai designer Disaya,


was loaned to Amy Winehouse in 2006 for the cover of her second album, Back to Black. Following Amy’s death earlier this year, Disaya decided the polka dot dress should be sold and the money raised donated to the Amy Winehouse Foundation, which benefits vulnerable young people in the UK and overseas. It was bought by Fundacion Museo De


La Moda in Chile for £36,000 (estimate £10,000-20,000) after competition between several phone bidders and a bidder in the room.


Chloe Tomlinson


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