Heritage Auctions

Since the 1990s, rare movie posters have skyrocketed in value, with strong demand and low supply creating one of today's most active collectibles markets. "Hollywood celebrities buy up these classic pieces of movie memorabilia," says coeditor Jim Halperin, who is cochairman of Heritage Auctions in Dallas, which handles 70 percent of the world's movie poster auction sales. "But so do everyday collectors: people who love the color, history, drama, and beauty of American film posters."

He cites as an example a woman who, in 1978, bought her husband a gift: a horror-movie poster of the 1932 Tod Browning classic Freaks. "She paid $10 for it," says Halperin, "but she knew it was something special. It hung on their wall for 30 years." In 2009, the couple sold their poster for $107,550.

In Collectible Movie Posters, Halperin and Cantu explore the wonderful world of the rarest, the most valuable, and the most exciting movie posters known to exist. The book is fully illustrated in color, with auction prices. The featured posters date from 1915 (Charlie Chaplin's The Champion) to 1958 (Attack of the 50 Foot Woman).

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