These have in turn generated a keen interest in vintage horror film posters. Whyte’s of Dublin recently sold a 1958 Dracula poster, with artwork by Bill Wiggins, for €16,000 (£14,250) against a €6000-8000 estimate – a record for a film poster in Ireland.
Alastair McCrea, of Ewbank’s, says: “Prices have increased for horror film posters, with buyers seeing them as a good investment. The artwork is also attractive which makes them appealing to many buyers.
“Early horror tends to be the most valuable, with original Dracula posters now fetching between £10,000-20,000. Movies from the Hammer franchise tend to be very sought-after. We sold a Curse of the Werewolf British quad last year for £2400, which shows the strength of the market for early Hammer productions.”
Tom Chantrell
Steve Kennedy, of Aston’s Auctioneers in the West Midlands, says: “The horror film genre is always very popular, and the imaginative horror poster art by Tom Chantrell and Bill Wiggins adds a new dimension to poster collecting. In September 2017 we sold a quad with artwork by Chantrell for Frankenstein Created Woman, an X-certificate Hammer Horror film.
“It reached £3100, despite it being heavily censored with black felttipped pen on the poster.”
