Hi Richard!
Actually, you mentioned the wrong Ron. Ron Borst wasn't involved in the New
Zealand find. That was me. And yes, I've made lots of great finds over the
years.
Ron MooreCinema Icons
--- On Mon, 7/26/10, Richard Evans <evan...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
From: Richard Evans <evan...@blueyonder.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [MOPO] As Far As I Know..THE ULTIMATE "ONE THAT GOT AWAY"....
To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Date: Monday, July 26, 2010, 12:01 PM
Love reading these stories.Even if it's difficult to tell it apart from the
MOST TEARFUL ENDINGS topic.
There was a great account a while back, (successful in that instance) of Bruce
and others chasing down a hoard.
Would love to see them preserved in a book with a chapter for each of leading
old school dealers/collectors' stories.
Like Ron Borst's experiences, including the story of New Zealand treasure trove.
And Todd, while he can't recall something like The Invisible Man cards, one can
only wonder what he's experienced that he finds more memorable.
It's great reading them on Mopo, but it's even more ephemeral here than paper.
On 26 Jul 2010, at 11:33, James Richard wrote:
Hmmm... seems Rick and Ron are kind of tied for the top horror story so far.
At least we can put some kind of dollar value on Rick's missed treasure... but,
on the other hand, who knows how many super-great posters were among the
"thousands" in the cellar of the burnt-out theater that Ron missed by only two
days?
These stories are almost to painful to read... but still, I'd like to know
about Phil's rolled up KING KONG insert... :)
Call me a masochist.
-- JR
rixpost...@aol.com wrote: Out here in L.A, we have a Pennysaver-type
publication called The Recycler.,About 20, maybe 23 years ago, I'd buy it every
Thursday as soon as it arrived at my local 7-11...(back then, prior to the
internet and announcements in movie theaters before the film starts stating
things like "original 1932 movie poster on The Mummy sells for a staggering,
record-breaking $459,000!!"----yeah, back then the majority of the American
public wasn't aware of the value of movie posters---so, I'd occasionally
stumble into a great deal...quite a few times, in fact..). My most
memorable example of "the one that got away" began on a Thursday afternoon when
I bought a copy of The Recycler...just like every other Thursday afternoon.
The only thing different about this particular Thursday is that there was an
add in the "Collectibles & Old Things" section saying something like: "7 Foot
Tall Frankenstein...$75"...that's all it
said. My first mistake was assuming it was some semi-worthless inflatable
Halloween statue and subsequently not calling the phone number IMMEDIATELY.
Something distracted me and I became involved in a project around the house...I
can't remember what. The one thing I DO remember is lying in bed at about 11
pm thinking about that ad and kicking myself for NOT EVEN CALLING to confirm
that it was the piece of garbage I assumed it to be. I told myself I'd call
the number first thing the next morning and barely slept a wink all night.
The next morning around 8 am, I called the number. An older gentleman answered
and said the prospective buyer was walking up his driveway at that very
moment! He didn't know much about the Frankenstein "statue" that he had...only
that it was very heavy, made of wood...and he insisted it was original. Of
course, I told him to PLEASE call me if the prospective buyer didn't purchase
it. He never called me
back. I called him an hour later and he told me he was sorry but the "statue"
was gone..... Flash forward a year or so....I was selling a poster or lobby
card through The Recycler and received a call from a collector---a conversation
ensued as it often did (does) when one movie poster collector talks to
another. As it turned out, I was talking to THE GUY WHO BOUGHT THE
FRANKENSTEIN STATUE abut a year previous. He told me it was used as a
stand-in for Boris Karloff during the production of The Bride Of
Frankenstein--- a huge wooden statue including Karloff's original wardrobe and
a life-mask of the monster. He told me the life mask required a few hundred
dollars of restoration (which he'd had done) and he was planning on putting it
up for sale in one Auction house or another.... Flash forward another
year.... somehow I learned that Guernsey's Auction was offering the
Frankenstein stand-in statue with an opening bid of $50,000 (which
seems like a truly measly amount by today's standards). Over the past 30
years, I've had many, many "ones that got away"....but no other poster, lobby
card, collection of posters, collection of lobby cards...NOTHING COMES CLOSE to
the Frankenstein stand-in "statue" that I could have had FOR SEVENTY FIVE
BUCKS! Somebody out there probably has it standing in their living room out
there...the most prized piece in their collection...probably worth $500.000 or
more by now. I'm sure there are some old-timers who remember this thing being
auctioned ay Guernsey's back in 1987 (I think that was the year). As far as I
know, it's never appeared on the market since. Maybe it will someday.
Anyway, it's all true....a really interesting story from Movie Poster Land.
Even after all these years, the whole thing makes me feel kind of queasy. Hey,
I bet it would make you feel queasy,too...
Rick
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