Vintage-Movie-Posters.net: Rick, share with us some of your history as a movie poster dealer. How did you acquire all these posters to sell?
Rick: Upon closing my last store in Marin County, CA in 1999., I moved my business online. Prior to eBay’s arrival, there were very few full time movie paper dealers in the U.S. and even less that handled primarily current titles (1970 & later). The few of us there were bought, sold and traded with each other. However, our sales were isolated to our stores or if we traveled to antique shows and collectors events. Collections would come in from the public to my location because they had nowhere else to sell them. I bought posters in small and large amounts, 1 to 1000 copies and more.
For example, in 1984, I left one theater with 23 suitcases full of 68 lbs of posters in each one. 70lbs was the weight limit to get on a plane. I paid more for the extra luggage than i did the posters. The James Bond posters alone sold for more than $80,000 in 1998.
In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, posters were still available to be bought direct from National Screen Service. I bought some to sell as fast as I could, however, I could have bought posters that would be worth millions of dollars at today’s prices for$1-$4 each. At the time there weren’t enough buyers to sell to and keep a cash flow. For example, I could buy a Rebel Without A Cause for $4 and wait 6 months to sell it for $100 or buy 20 Star Wars posters and sell them in a month for $500.
Collections came to me while working antique shows in the malls in the 1980’s. Several studio and printer employees brought me posters while I worked the southern California malls. One interesting thing is that the video stores in the early 1980’s were getting original posters with their tape orders. Those usually had the extra fold.
In the early 1990’s, my store in Marin brought in more posters than I will ever be able to sell. I have bought out regional warehouses both in domestic and foreign locations.
Vintage-Movie-Posters.net: Thanks, Rick! Folks, tune in again for more of this amazing interview and be sure to check out Rick’s amazing selection of vintage movie posters, lobby cards, and other cool movie memorabilia at Rick’s Hollywood. And if you have a question for him, post it here in the comments!
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