Auction History Result
9h001 STAR WARS TRILOGY 1sh '85 one-time showing, the Holy Grail of Star Wars poster collecting!
Date Sold 7/17/2014Read MoreSold For: Login or Register to see sold price.An Original Vintage Theatrical Unfolded One-Sheet Movie Poster (1sh; measures 27 1/16" x 41 3/8" [41 x 105 cm]) (Learn More)Star Wars Trilogy, the 1985 one-time showing ("For the first time in America, The Star Wars Trilogy"; "One Performance Only"; "The [name of specific theater] is proud to present one complete, uncut showing of the Star Wars Trilogy, in 70 Millimeter and Dolby Stereo. Thursday, March 28, at [specific time]. All seats $10"; "This special performance will benefit the Corporation for Public Broadcasting") of the first three Star Wars films that was held on March 28th, 1985. This was a special promotion dreamed up by
George Lucas, where only nine theaters showed all three movies on one day only at eight U.S. theaters and one Canadian theater, and naturally, all dedicated Star Wars fans wanted to attend this one day only event, but to do so, they had to go to one of the nine theaters. Lucas had only 2 one-sheets made for each of the nine theaters, so only eighteen posters were created, and each was printed with the specific theater names. These posters were not "printed" like regular movie posters! Because only two of each were needed, each was a photographic blow-up of the image. Because the text of the image had to be changed for each of the nine pairs of blow-ups, the camera setting were apparently slightly changed in between the printing of each pair, so there are slight differences between the nine pairs of posters in regards to border size and image size, and overall measurements (we have now seen four of the nine, but we can't say exactly what they all measure, but there are variances between the four we have auctioned)!
THINK OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS! While there may be some Star Wars posters where only a small number are believed to exist (even only one or two), in every other case, there is always the possibility that a lot of other examples could be discovered at any time in the future (because a lot of the posters were originally printed), but in the case of these original posters from this one-day 1985 trilogy re-release, absolutely only 18 were made (2 for each of the nine theaters showing the triple-bill), and every pair of posters for each theater is different, so there are absolutely only
TWO of each, and there is
NO chance that any more of them could ever surface (and around half of the original 18 are believed to still be in collectors' hands). If any poster were to be called "the Holy Grail" of Star Wars posters, it would have to be this one.
NOTE: Click on linked names to see a biography.Important Added Info: This poster has been consigned to us directly from the man who, in 1985, was the 20th Century-Fox Branch Manager for the Northwest, but he lived in Los Angeles at that time. He was in Seattle on a regular business trip the day of the screening, and he visited the Seattle theater (the U.A. 150) while the movies were showing. At the end of the last showing, the theater manager removed the poster from its frame at the front of the theater and handed it to him (he does not know what happened to the other poster, but he imagines the theater manager may well have kept it). Our consignor has kept it in his possession for the last 29 years, until he has now consigned it to us. We do not know of any exact replicas of this poster, but even if there are, it is a certainty that this is the original poster, one of two that this theater had, and one of the eighteen in all that was created.
Condition: very good. The poster was never folded. There are faint oval stains scattered down the right background area and some faint creases scattered through the poster. Our consignor tells us that after the movies were shown, he asked his employee to remove this poster from the display case, and he took it and rolled it, and has stored it in a tube ever since. The faint stains described above and the faint creases are not very noticeable or distracting at all, and otherwise, the poster has the most minor of border wear. The paper still has a "crispness" to it. I would think the vast majority of collectors would choose to keep this poster exactly as it is. I am already envious of the new owner of this poster!
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