About the 26 long Australian daybills in this set of auctions
     Note that Australian daybills measured approximately 15" x 40" from the 1920s through the late 1930s (these are called "long daybills"). They are FAR more scarce than daybills from after this time (you can not find long daybills on most pre-1940 movies, and on the few you can find them from, there is often only one known example or a few known examples, except in the rare cases where someone found multiples of a single title).
    At some point almost exactly around the end of 1940, paper shortages caused by the onset of World War II caused Australian printers to drastically reduce the size of daybills, to 10" x 30" (this meant that they could print four daybills from the same sheet that used to yield two "long daybills"), meaning that the new daybills were exactly half the area of the old ones. At the end of World War II, as the paper shortages diminished, this size of daybills was increased to roughly 13" x 30", and they remained that size all the way until around 1980, when they became shorter, measuring approximately 13" x 26", and they have remained that to the present day.
    Daybills are similar in size to U.S. inserts, but they are very often full artwork posters, whereas U.S. inserts were almost always photographic posters. A lot of collectors enjoy collecting Australian daybills for this reason, and also because they can be framed in many places where a one-sheet U.S. poster can not.

Should unfolded inserts sell for a major premium over folded ones?
     For years I have been arguing that the above should be true, and it seems that many collectors are beginning to agree with me! Imagine if baseball cards could be bought in two ways. You could either get them folded in half twice (resulting in three horizontal folds), or get them unfolded. Would not the unfolded ones sell for FAR more in the collector's market than the folded ones? I can't see the difference between this and inserts. It is VERY difficult to find unfolded inserts, but they ARE out there, and I believe we will continue to see their price rise far above that of a folded version (note that most post-1970 inserts were NOT folded, so they are pretty much only found unfolded, and therefore this does not apply to inserts from this time period).  NOTE THAT THE INSERTS THAT WE ARE CURRENTLY OFFERING INCLUDE A HUGE NUMBER OF UNFOLDED ONES! Around 41% of the 809 inserts have never been folded, and 176 of those 41% are from before 1970, which are the titles you would not expect to find unfolded! This is a very rare opportunity to purchase unfolded inserts!

About the originality and rarity of these inserts
     Inserts from the 1960s on are far more rare than the corresponding one-sheets (with the exception of certain inserts which have been reproduced; see below). In the last few years, many savvy collectors have begun to seek out inserts, realizing their far greater rarity, and in some cases, are paying more for them than for the corresponding one-sheets! We expect this trend to continue in the coming years! NOTE: In recent years a huge number of inserts of certain top titles of the 1970s have been offered in the collector's market (there are also a couple of "suspect" half-sheets). We believe (as do most major dealers) that these are surely counterfeits. They can be distinguished from genuine inserts by their extra glossy front and back, and their "whiter-than-white" appearance.  ALL OF THE INSERTS WE ARE SELLING THIS WEEK ARE 100% GENUINE AND EITHER THEATER-USED OR WERE PRINTED TO BE USED IN THEATERS, BUT WERE FOUND IN POSTER EXCHANGES PRIOR TO GOING TO A THEATER!
    I could imagine that some people, seeing the many wonderful condition inserts we are selling this week, might wonder if possibly THEY could be reproductions! They are not, and they include lots and lots of titles that nobody would ever consider reproducing, which should make sense to anyone, even if they doubted my guarantee that they are authentic! On the other hand, the inserts and inserts that all major dealers know are counterfeit are exclusively very collectible titles, exactly the sort a crook would choose to reproduce. All of the inserts we are selling this week are absolutely guaranteed to be authentic!

About the condition
     Note that we give a detailed overall condition grade to every item we sell ("fine", "very good to fine", "very good", "good to very good", "good", and "fair", with only a few graded "poor") along with more details about the condition described in words (but pretty much only if they are defects that CAN'T be seen in our super-sized images, or if the item is especially valuable).  We felt this would help bidders identify items they want to bid on more easily.  Of course, we still strongly recommend that you look at our super-sized image to see the extent of the defects that we describe and to examine the poster for minor defects that we did NOT describe.

    If a poster is in less than very good condition, should you not bid on it? Of course not, as long as you are accepting of the defects the poster has! The item that is graded "very good", but has as many minor defects as is allowed under the "very good" definition is only in SLIGHTLY better condition than the best of the "good to very good" items. So please take the time to look at the larger images of items that interest you, and see if the defects are the sort that you can "live with", or are willing to restore. Some of these items are EXTREMELY rare, and it may be years before you see them offered again!

U.S. buyers need to enclose $11 shipping (which includes full insurance), no matter how many items you purchase from this set of auctions! NOTE: Our $11 flat rate shipping is good for three weeks. If you haven't paid within three weeks, you will then be quoted the actual cost of shipping when you request it.
     Missouri customers: You must pay an additional 7.162% sales tax on your purchases.  If your order is sent within the state of Missouri, we MUST collect this tax (if it is shipped to another state, we do not collect the tax).

Will your order be shipped to you by UPS?
     UPS does NOT automatically require a signature to deliver packages, so if you want the signature to be required, you will need to pay the extra $3.00 UPS charges for "signature required" Delivery Confirmation, and please realize that they will then NOT leave the package, and you may well have to go to the UPS facility yourself to pick it up.  But if you prefer this, that is fine, and if you have any other special requirements, please tell us when you are paying for your order.  IF YOU DO NOT SPECIFY THAT YOU WANT SIGNATURE REQUIRED, THEN YOUR PACKAGE WILL BE SENT WITHOUT SIGNATURE REQUIRED!

You CAN usually combine shipment!

NOTE: These Thursday items need to be sent rolled in tubes so... IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT COMBINING: Flat rate shipping is good for 3 weeks worth of purchases. If you win items over a span of more than 21 days, you will then be charged the actual cost of shipping plus $3 for packing materials. *they can be combined with these auctions: Sunday July 28th rolled one-sheets Tuesday July 30th rolled non-U.S. posters Thursday August 1st rolled "special" posters (including war & travel) Tuesday August 6th "rolled" signed items Sunday August 11th rolled one-sheets Tuesday August 20th half-sheets, Belgians, Italian locandinas Sunday August 25th rolled one-sheets *they must be sent separately from these auctions for an additional shipping charge: Sunday August 4th bulk lots (NOTE: There are a small number of lots that could be combined and we will automatically do that if it is possible to do.) Tuesday August 6th "flat" signed items Thursday August 8th "oversized" posters including three-sheets Tuesday August 13th folded one-sheets Thursday August 15th lots of 2 or more 8" x 10" stills from the same film Sunday August 18th miscellaneous items of all types including pressbooks

Note that we not only allow you to combine as many items as you want from a single set of Tuesday, Thursday, and/or Sunday auctions, and still pay only a single shipping charge for all of the items, but we also allow you to wait until the next three weeks of auctions end (a total of up to eight sets of auctions) so that you can combine your current purchases with those of our following auctions (if possible), and that means there is a chance you could combine items from up to eight of our sets of auctions, and still pay only a single shipping charge (assuming those items fit into the same type of package). We KNOW there are other sellers who charge a little less on shipping than we do, but we know that our packaging is the best there is, and our orders virtually never arrive damaged (and on the very rare times that they do, all our U.S. packages are fully insured, and FULL INSURANCE IS INCLUDED IN THE U.S. SHIPPING CHARGE).

DON'T BID ON OUR ITEMS UNLESS YOU WILL PAY THE $11 U.S. SHIPPING!

Non-U.S. buyers must pay the actual cost of shipping their order (you can choose whatever method you prefer, but know that the U.S. Post Office has eliminated Surface Mail, so we can only send via Express or Airmail), plus $3, for both the best packaging materials you have ever seen and a separate printed invoice mailed to you.  All non-U.S. buyers must tell us if they want the package sent insured or uninsured at the time they pay for their order.

Have you heard about our Pay and Hold Program?
This lets non-U.S. buyers pay for their purchases from 6 consecutive weeks (a total of 15 auctions and around 12,000+ items!), and we then send all your purchases at once saving you LOTS of money!  Click HERE to learn more about becoming one of the hundreds of our non-U.S. buyers who are already part of this program.

Learn more about how to save money on shipping by shipping to friends/family in the U.S., insurance, and customs fees.

     IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please bear these approximate shipping cost in mind BEFORE you place a bid (if you live outside the U.S.). The vast majority of our customers want a very securely packed tube, and will pay the extra shipping cost involved (and of course, it goes to the Post Office or UPS, and not us!). Please do not ask us to pack less securely, as that would likely result in a damaged order.
    Some sellers are sending by Ground UPS to Canada, but that incurs large "brokerage fees", so we do not recommend it.  Note that there are also some sellers sending non-U.S. packages via a "Letter" rate, but of course this is not legal, and we can not do this.  We have outlined the possibilities for sending non-U.S. packages above, so please read that carefully, BEFORE placing a bid!

DON'T BID ON OUR ITEMS UNLESS YOU WILL PAY THE ACTUAL COST OF SHIPPING (the actual cost of shipping plus $3 outside the U.S.)!