Giant James Bond Poster May Bring $20,000 at Heritage Auctions

Dallas, TX - One of the rarest James Bond movie posters ever made - an advance British quad for Thunderball - may sell for $10,000 among a large collection of Bond-related paper and screen-used movie props in Heritage Auctions’ April 7-8 Movie Poster Auction. The sale offers almost every Bond quad poster produced up until today, said Grey Smith, Director of Posters at Heritage. 

“Theater owners were actually instructed to cut the advance quads for Thunderball into four sections,” Smith said. “This makes the example in our auction one of only a small number of copies left uncut.”

Each measuring 30 inches by 40 inches, quad posters are produced exclusively for British theaters and moviegoers. In creating the quad from Dr. No (United Artists, 1962) - the very first James Bond movie -  artist Mitchell Hooks and designer David Chasman capture actor Sean Connery’s debonair spy in mid-wink against a bright yellow background (est. $6,000-12,000).

A scarce, country-of-origin quad for From Russia with Love (United Artists, 1964) depicts what is arguably the best and most iconic image from the film thanks to artwork by Renato Fratini and Eric Pulford (est. $5,000-10,000). Featuring a gold-dipped Shirley Eaton superimposed over Bond (Sean Connery), the Style A quad for Goldfinger (United Artists, 1964) is perhaps one of the most desirable posters from the franchise’s 26 movies, Smith said (est. $5,000-10,000). 

British quads for later Bond films include Die Another Day (MGM, 2002), Quantum of Solace (MGM, 2008) and Skyfall (MGM, 2012).

The auction’s selection of classic Bond posters from the American market includes:

·         An extraordinary six sheet for Goldfinger (United Artists, 1964) - measuring a massive 78-1/4 inches by 80-3/4 inches, no American movie poster for a James Bond film is more rare than this piece of large-format paper (est. $12,000-24,000)

·         A six sheet for Thunderball (United Artists, 1965), the fourth Bond film (est. $2,000-4,000)

·         An astounding 24 sheet for Goldfinger, perhaps the best poster available on what most consider to be the seminal James Bond film ($2,000-4,000)

The auction’s extensive Bond offerings features two, screen-used “nacre” style poker plaques seen in the franchise reboot Casino Royale (MGM, 2006). A pearlescent red plaque in the denomination of $500,000 (est. $2,000-4,000) and a $1 million blue plaque (est. $2,000-4,000) were made uniquely for the poker scenes in which 007 beats Le Chiffre (played by actor Mads Mikkelsen), culminating in one final pot of $115 million. Just 125 poker plaques of each color were commissioned by EON Productions from Bourgogne et Grasset, the French casino chip manufacturers founded in 1923.

Heritage Auctions’ April 7-8 Movie Poster Auction also features the only-remaining Belgian poster for The Mummy (Universal, 1933), estimated to sell for $60,0000, a beastly, 47-inch-tall Swedish poster for King Kong (RKO, 1933), estimated at $25,000 and an elusive Argentinean poster from the iconic vampire film London After Midnight (MGM, 1927), which may bring $30,000.