A character sketch of E.T. – the most celebrated alien in cinema – has sold for three-times its estimate at a New York science fiction and horror auction.
The expression study by Carlo Rambaldi, the artist who did most to create the Extra-Terrestrial, went into Sotheby’s There Are Such Things sale with an expected sale price of $12,000 to $18,000.
It hammered for an impressive $53,340.
Carlo Rambaldi worked tirelessly to bring the alien to life, spending many months sketching and modelling to produce a creature audiences would believe in – and feel for.
He undoubtedly succeeded. Another sketch, equally charming, and showing a surprised E.T. hammered for just over $20,000.
In a long career in special effects, Rambaldi worked on many notable films including Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alien, and David Lynch’s Dune. He won three Academy Awards, including one for E.T.
The top item in the sale was a cape from Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) worn by legendary horror actor Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula.
It sold for $279,400 against a $200,000 to $300,000 estimate.
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was a parody that celebrated the enormous success of monster features. In it, Lugosi reprised his role as the vampire aristocrat from the 1931 classic. The movie was a major hit, but Lugosi’s comic turn was a sign of a legendary career passing its peak.
The Black satin cape came with a Lugosi mannequin on which to display it.
What an iconic shape this 1940s Dracula cape is. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Elsewhere in the sale a poster from 1941’s The Wolf Man realised $190,500.
Hollywood remains hugely collectible.
And science fiction and horror movies are extremely popular with collectors.
Last year, the Ruby Slippers from The Wizard of Oz sold for a record $28 million, replacing Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet ($5.3 million) as the most valuable ever movie prop.
A Star Wars X-Wing fighter sold for more than $3 million in 2023.
Posters like this were designed to make a quick impact before being discarded. Few survive in this sort of condition. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
The most valuable movie posters are overwhelmingly from the science fiction and horror genres. The classic Universal Horror movies of the 1930s and 40s, like The Wolf Man, are especially sought after.
A Metropolis poster from 1927 sold for $690,000 in 2005, beating posters for Dracula ($525,800) and the Mummy ($435,500) to the top of the tree.
The Wolf Man poster sold here would not make the top 10 of the most valuable movie posters, the value of which is highly dependent on quality and rarity.
Last year a poster from The Freaks sold for over $100,000 after surviving in the ruins of a demolished cinema. While they were produced in large numbers, movie posters were not designed to last.
Three-sheet posters like this example were tall and thin – usually 81 inches – and designed to make an impact on popular audiences.
