THE PRICE OF PAPER

When it comes to collecting Star Trek merchandise, there are many varieties of items one can choose to specialise in. Toys, books, badges, models, clothes, novelties and the one that gets overlooked the most, the movie poster.

First it is important to clarity what movie poster actually is. Movie posters are produced by the film distributers to be displayed in the cinemas where the picture is showing. They are, in general, not availagbe publically, but there are a few stores that do sell them. Moviola and Collectors Cove in Melbourne and Stars in Sydney. They cannot be found in department stores, poster display racks, newsagents or Guess What stores. Subsiquentely, they are a little harder to come by. The three shops mentioned earlier sell a wide variety of films posters and other memorabilia, most at resonable prices.

The size of mivie posters vary, but the most common is called the one-sheet (27 X 41"). This is the most standard type of movie poster around. The long thin ones (recently issued in Austrek membership packs) are called daybills (14 X 36" approx) which are soley Australian produced and although common, are not overly popular. The other main variation is the quad, which is like a large one-sheet only sideways. Of course there are many other types available as well, ranging for the mini-sheet to the massive billboard size 24-sheet posters which are hard to come by.

The basic price for an Australian produced one-sheet movie poster is about $8-$10. Likewise an American or English one of the same size (often with the same artwork) can set you back $25 dipending on what film it's from. Although the US posters cost three times as much, they are heavily sought after in the poster collecting world. Only if the Australian one has original artwork will it be in demand. If a poster is rare, in limited supply or just plain hard to get, its value can skyrocket. Thus for a collector, sometimes spending over $100 on a movie poster is not unusual.

When you see a poster, it will be in one of two forms, rolled or folded. Any poster that is folded, automatically loses value. Thus rolled ones ar the most preferable. In an article I wrote "So What's in an Enterprise?" I touched briefly on the methods of poster storage, however I shall reiterate a couple of points. Posters in tubes keep well but cannot be displayed. Framing them is ideal, but is expensive (also no adhesion substances should be used). Laminating ruins a poster's value as it cannot be removed. Subsiquently, any poster that has tears, stains, pin holes, blu-tac marks or creases drops in value dramatically. So movie posters must be treated virtually with kit gloves and kept immaculate for them to appreciate properly. It is also worth noting that there are no one-sheet posters for television shows.

Ok, so taking all this into consideration, where does Star Trek come into it? Well although there are six Star Trek films, there are, in fact, over ten official movie posters. The hardest ones to get are The Motion Picture US one-sheet and The Search For Spock US one-sheet style B. Tjhe most uncommon and by far the most bizzare is the 'airline seat in space' from The Final Frontier US one-sheet teaser. A mint condition rolled Motion Picture US one-sheet will cost about $80-$100 to buy, if one can be found.

If these prices are a little out of your range, then fear not, copies are quite common. Most specialist Sci-Fi stores stock them. They are cheap reproductions of the original and are smaller in size as well, so they cannot be passed off as the real thing. to a movie poster collector, they are not worth the paper they are printed on. However, if you want a cheap Star Trek movie poster copy to pin up on your wall, then they are ideal. They just arn't worth anything.

Star Trek posters do not have the demand or prices that Star Wars posters have, perhaps the fans don't rate them a high enough priority, so they are resonably cheap. The problem is availability. There are not a lot of Star Trek one-sheeters floating around. So even though you might have the money, no one may actually have any to sell! The lesson to be learnt is that they must be grabbed whenever they pop up, and remember, rolled US posters are worth their weight in gold, providing they are not damaged.

Star Trek movie poster collecting can be a rewarding experience, especially when a poster that has eluded you for many years, suddenly finds its way into your possession. I collect them and enjoy it, however its amazes me just how many Star Trek fans don't collect them at all, which I find rather surprising.

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