This was one of the low moments of my life, and thanks to Sean for dredging it up!
I was at the Columbus auction, and a friend had just purchased an original linenbacked one-sheet from The Kid for a HUGE amount of money from a collector who was going there. He was afraid of having the poster sent overnight, and he asked me to "pick it up" for him (since I would be soon seeing him) and I stupidly agreed to do it, not thinking that this would mean I would spend several days holding a super expensive tube! I carried it around for a day, and then in a moment I will never forget, I quickly went to the bathroom at the auction and set the tube down in the bathroom, and walked out without it, and returned a minute later, but it was gone. The auction people announced it, and several very nice people spent significant time helping to scour the entire building for it but it did not turn up. Of course I kicked myself 1,000 times for doing this, and took out many full-page ads offering a $10,000 reward, but it never turned up (sadly, this exact poster was one of the Portal Publications, so dozens of people contacted me to "claim the reward", but they had a Portal!). I paid my friend back the money he had paid, and assumed I was poorer but wiser. But two good things came out of this: 1) A couple of years later, I was able to purchase another unbacked example of the poster for less than half of what my friend had paid, and he gave me the original purchase price back, cutting my losses by more than half. 2) That incident caused me to always be super paranoid about valuable collectibles! In the years since I am very proud to say I have auctioned hundreds of thousands of posters for well over 25 million dollars, and I have never lost any of them! It helps that when I purchased the block in West Plains where the eMoviePoster.com warehouse and offices reside, the first thing I did was build a walk-in vault, that measures 20 ft by 20 ft, and has poured concrete walls, floor, and ceiling (the ceiling alone weighs over 40,000 pounds). It has two locking solid metal doors at the entrance. I would love to see someone take a blowtorch and cut through one of the doors, and finally get it open and then find another similar door inside! Anyone have an original linenbacked one-sheet from The Kid in their collection or know of one for sale? In the years since I lost this poster, I never saw it offered for sale, and I think it likely the person who took it either threw it away (too hot to handle!) or has buried it in their collection, waiting for it to cool off. Bruce On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 4:24 PM, Sean Linkenback <slinkenb...@bellsouth.net>wrote: > Probably the most (in)famous lost tube story involves our very own Bruce > and a Charlie Chaplin poster from back in ’92. > > > ------------------------------ > > *From:* MoPo List [mailto:mop...@listserv.american.edu] *On Behalf Of *Michael > B > *Sent:* Tuesday, March 24, 2009 5:21 PM > *To:* MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU > *Subject:* Re: [MOPO] dilemma on shipping > > > > didn't someone once report on MOPO that he traveled with his wife and child > on a plane, left the plane with the tube, took a cab, and forgot the tube > when he left the cab? (never, again to see the tube) > > > > this conjured up images of remembering the tube, and forgetting the child. > > > > PROPER WAY TO TRANSPORT A TUBE ON A PLANE: handcuff it. > > > > > > michael > > > ------------------------------ > > Feeling the pinch at the grocery store? Make meals for under > $10<http://food.aol.com/frugal-feasts?ncid=emlcntusfood00000002> > . > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com > ___________________________________________________________________ How to > UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: > lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF > MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. > > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com > ___________________________________________________________________ How to > UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: > lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF > MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. > > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
