Rare movie posters found in attic fetch $503K

This February 2012 photo provided by Heritage Auctions in Dallas shows a movie poster for the 1931 poster for "Dracula" starring Bela Lugosi. / AP Photo/Heritage Auctions

(AP) PHILADELPHIA - A collection of rare movie theater posters found in a northeastern Pennsylvania attic has fetched a total of $503,000 at auction.

The sale of 33 posters from the Golden Age of Hollywood ended Friday at Heritage Auctions in Texas.

The auction house said a rare 1931 poster for the movie "Dracula" topped the list with a selling price of $143,400. It sold to an anonymous overseas buyer.

A surprise of the auction was the $101,575 price paid for the rare poster of the 1931 movie "Cimarron," the first Western to win the Best Picture Academy Award.

The posters were stuck together with wallpaper glue when they were purchased for around $30,000 at a country auction last fall in Berwick. The rare find was revealed as they were steamed apart.

[elliesamericana]

I am a bit surprised to see these went for $30k all glued together. Enough good stuff must have been showing for bidders to have taken such a high dollar chance. Rare items have been found in far worse shape to be restored and then sold for high prices. I've had a few lucky finds myself. I found a 1930s travel poster in a garbage can, only to see it a few months later on the PBS antique road show where the appraiser valued it and 69 other posters at $1,500-2,500 each. When you think of all the lost treasures that get tossed into trash and landfills every day, it can boggle one's mind.

[Transatlantique]

How did they get the glue cleaned off? Why would anyone have paid 30g for posters stuck together with wallpaper glue? Why would anyone pay over 100g for posters that had once been stuck together with glue? These things don't make sense.

[OnTheCrown]

If I was the seller, believe me it would make perfect sense!

[micmac666]

An art restorer would have techniques for removing the adhesive without damage.