31/01/2025 General News
Since the very birth of the movies, cinema has evoked a fierce and emotional pull on our psyches, writes Emily Turner. Occasions such as last week’s announcement of the Oscar nominations are still huge news all around the world.
By their nature, movies are ephemeral; when you leave the cinema, you emerge with just your memories of what you have just seen. Inevitably many people like to set those memories into something more tangible, which is why movie memorabilia is such an important part of the collecting world.
There are all kinds of items which people like to amass, from props and costumes to soundtracks and even ticket stubs. But being a primarily visual medium, it is hardly surprising that movie posters are right up there amongst the most sought-after souvenirs of the silver screen.
There is some debate about what was the first movie poster, but many experts think it was for a French 1895 short called L’Arroseur Arrosé (literally, The Sprinkler Sprinkled), which was the first poster to actually depict the film it was advertising, rather than, for example, the technology being used to project it.
Over the subsequent 130 years, there have been thousands of posters produced, offering the film buff a whole world of collecting opportunities, whether focussing on a single genre, an individual star or director, or a particular era of moviemaking.
Serious investors in movie art will take into account factors such as rarity, condition, the artist involved, vintage and myriad other factors. But the beauty of this hobby is that anyone can indulge in it, collecting posters advertising the films that they personally liked, or just because they find them visually interesting.
Whilst very rare posters can fetch considerable sums (an Italian issue poster for Casablanca sold for $478,000 at auction last year), they are generally very affordable.
The size of a movie poster is very important when assessing its collectability, as the posters produced for cinema use (and hence in smaller quantities) are what appeals to collectors, while the much more mass-produced commercial posters which were sold to consumers – generally 36 inches by 24 inches – were printed on inferior paper and have little rarity value.
Posters for the UK market came in a variety of sizes, but the most commonly collected is the ‘Quad’ (short for Quadruple Crown), which has been the standard size for posters displayed in British cinemas for decades.
Measuring 40 inches by 30 inches (101.6cm x 76.2cm), Quad posters are in landscape format, mirroring the shape of the cinema screen itself. Because they were printed only for use in cinemas themselves, Quads were generally produced in relatively small numbers, and so have a rarity value.
When movie posters were produced in portrait format, they were usually printed in the standard British ‘One Sheet’ size of 40 inches by 27 inches (101.6cm x 68.6cm). Multiples of this size (three sheet, six sheet and all the way up to 30 sheet), were produced for billboard advertising.
Much more infrequently, Double Crown posters were produced, in portrait format and exactly half the size of the Quad. These are much rarer, and therefore more valuable.
It is possible that digital advertising could spell the end for the paper movie poster, and future collectors may be fighting over a finite resource. But for the moment, posters offer a fun and accessible route into a collection which can be enjoyed both for its visual appeal and for the memories it evokes of the magic of the silver screen.
Keys’ Popular Culture, Music, Film and Sporting Memorabilia Sale takes place on Friday 14th February at its Aylsham salerooms and live online.