eMoviePoster.com

A few days ago, a bidder emailed us as follows:
    "Hello. I was just looking at your image for the E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial poster you have up at http://auctions.emovieposter.com/Bidding.taf?_function=detail&Auction_uid1=3775233

I noticed that this poster has the GCIU logo at the bottom. According to all I've read, any poster with that logo had to have been printed in 1983 or later...but E.T. was a 1982 release. I looked through auction history, and there ARE one-sheets for this title with the GAU logo, such a this one: http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/archiveitem/10477860.html

So it seems to me that E.T. is another case of a poster having GAU and GCIU variants, with the former being from the initial 1982 release and the GCIU version having been printed at some later date, similar to the two versions of the Raiders '82 poster. You should include this info in the auction. I hope I'm not being a know-it-all, by the way, just trying to help, and I LOVE posters. :)"

WE REPLIED AS FOLLOWS:
Thanks for spotting that! We've done some research and we believe that the GCIU posters are from the 1983 continuous first release of this classic 1982 movie. The film was a huge hit and still in theaters more than a year after it was first released (which was never anticipated), and more posters were needed to be printed to fulfill the demand. I have updated the auction and informed the bidders. I'll also be scanning our Auction History for these posters and emailing the winning bidders."

Here is the results of our research:

In the below image, you can see both a GAU logo and also a GCIU logo (sometimes called the "bug" because of it's bug-like shape). However, note that there is also a studio issued poster that contains neither logo, and it is also an original poster!

And here are examples of E.T. GAU and GCIU posters (NOTE: Whether the poster is folded or not is irrelevant for identifying GAU or GCIU variations; both versions exist as folded and unfolded):

GAU 1982 poster	studio issued poster	GCIU circa 1983 poster

So next we had to look over ALL the past examples of this one-sheet we have auctioned! Why? Both because we want our Auction History Database to be 100% accurate, and also because we are the ONLY major auction there is that does NOT subscribe to the awful "Buyer Beware" policy. So not only will we offer the people who bought the GCIU 1983 version a full refund (including shipping!), but we will also track them down and email them about the error!

Now we have checked, and we have auctioned over 250 of this style E.T. one-sheets that we had identified as being from 1982. We looked closely at EVERY one of those, and found that 22 of them are the GCIU 1983 version. So we will be offering those 22 buyers a refund, even the ones who bought them a decade or more ago. But we won't be surprised if some may choose to keep them, because our findings show that this poster is over ten times more rare than the first release poster!

Note that a similar situation exists with "Mad Max" where there is an early re-release that was often sold as first release until we uncovered the same kind of GAU and GCIU situation. We have no doubt there will be other similar examples that turn up, and we will ALWAYS offer all of our buyers a full refund, no matter how many years have passed, because that is just a part of our Lifetime Guarantee, something NO other major auction offers!