Christie's mystery buyer drives up the price on classic Casino Royale posters

17-Mar-2006 • Collecting

At Christie's International, a mystery buyer paid 10,200 pounds ($17,810) for ``Casino Royale'' film posters, nearly treble their valuation. He bought about 60 lots in the first two hours of a London sale yesterday - reports Bloomberg.

The six door-sized posters for the 1967 James Bond film, featuring gun-toting women, had a top estimate of 3,500 pounds. The buyer, who was unfamiliar to dealers and collectors in the room, paid 3,600 pounds for a ``Goldfinger'' poster, five times the top estimate.

``The really amazing thing was, it wasn't just him who was bidding up prices,'' said Tony Nourmand of London's Reel Poster Gallery, who snapped up a second ``Goldfinger'' image below the top estimate, and lost ``La Dolce Vita'' to the unknown buyer. ``He just had more money than anybody else.''

Prices are soaring for vintage posters as they become more popular with decorators, and as collectors are priced out of the contemporary art market. In November, Nourmand sold the most expensive vintage poster, for Fritz Lang's 1927 movie ``Metropolis,'' for $690,000 to Ken Schacter, a California collector.

The previous record of $453,500 was set in 1997 by Sotheby's Holdings Inc. for a poster of the 1932 film, ``The Mummy,'' said Nourmand.

Christie's four-hour sale took in 333,180 pounds from about 400 lots ranging from Humphrey Bogart and Brigitte Bardot movies to ``Sleeping Beauty'' and ``King Kong.'' More than 100 people thronged the small room and four people took telephone bids.

The top lot was ``Dead of Night,'' from the 1945 movie with Michael Redgrave. It went to a telephone bidder for 13,200 pounds, or more than twice its top estimate. A 1933 Swedish poster for ``King Kong'' was bid up to 10,800 pounds, compared with a top estimate of 6,000 pounds.

Christie's specialist Sarah Hodgson declined to comment on the mystery buyer, who wore a beige jacket and trousers at a sale where the norm was dark, casual clothes. Dealers said it was unlikely he would soon be able to resell his posters at a profit.

Popular items were U.S. scene cards, sized 11 inches (28 centimeters) by 14 inches, and priced from about 200 pounds to 600 pounds. Joe Burtis, who runs the Motion Picture Arts Gallery in East Rutherford, New Jersey, bought at least six lots of the cards -- mostly near the low estimates -- including one that advertised ``Dark Victory,'' a 1939 Bette Davis movie.

Prices of the cards tend to be volatile, he said. ``But I can't buy posters here. They go really high.''

Christie's charges a commission of 20 percent on items costing 100,000 pounds or less.