Early movie studios continued the vaudeville tradition of printing out poster advertisements for their shows. Early movie posters were simple and unadorned. These black and white title cards served merely to direct traffic, not to entice or tantalize audiences. However, as movie theaters proliferated, studios began to compete with each other to develop precocious movie poster artwork. Soon came the advent of lobby cards. These were series of four, eight, or 16 posters depicting scenes and frames from movies. Usually, there was one Title Card and a series of other Scene Cards. Not all of these lobby cards are equally valued by collectors and fans. Cards of scenes that are truly iconic--for instance, the Scene Card featuring Orson Welles up on the podium in Citizen Kane--sell for much more than cards with less relevance to the story. In an attempt to milk successful productions for more money, studios often re-release classic films. During these re-releases, studios print out new "original" movie posters. Beware, however, that a poster for the 1989 re-release of Gone With the Wind is far less valuable that the original poster from the original release date. How should you appraise the value of your movie posters? Triangulate your research by checking sales statistics from multiple records. Just because an original poster sold for $2,000 to a buyer in Japan 10 years ago does not mean that someone today will pay $2,000 for an identical poster. Factor in shipping and handling costs, popularity bubbles, and "buyer fatigue" to develop a conservative estimate. You can also average the past sales of similar posters in your genre to get a reasonable figure.
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