A rare poster for the 1931 horror film “Dracula” sold for $525,800 at auction in Dallas. Heritage Auctions said the sale on Saturday appears to be the highest amount a movie poster has garnered at auction.
This poster, which features the image of actor Bela Lugosi as Dracula, is one of only two known to be left of that particular version.
Heritage says the poster was put up for auction by the family of longtime cinematographer and photographer George J. Mitchell Jr., who had owned the poster since the 1950s.
Dracula Movie Poster
Mitchell’s son, Arthur Mitchell, said in a news release that his late father, who loved horror films, had childhood memories of seeing “Dracula” when it was released.
The buyer wishes to remain anonymous.
The previous record was a tie of sorts set by two separate sales at Heritage. In July, a 1946 Italian movie poster for Casablanca sold for $478,000, while a poster for the 1927 Lon Chaney film London After Midnight commanded that same sum in November 2014 – both posters are the only known examples of their kind. Prior to November 2014, the auction record for a movie poster hadn’t budged in 17 years. It had belonged to a poster for the 1932 horror film The Mummy, which sold at Sotheby’s in March 1997 for $453,000.
Dracula Movie Poster
