Pair of 1939 Wizard of Oz Posters sells for $33,000
at Bodnar’s Auctions in New Jersey
““We're off to see the Wizard, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
You'll find he is a whiz of a Wiz! If ever a Wiz! there was.
If ever oh ever a Wiz! there was The Wizard of Oz is one because,
Because, because, because, because, because.
Because of the wonderful things he does.
We're off to see the Wizard. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”
Much like the dream sequence in the 1930s classic “The Wizard Oz,” Joe Bodnar’s most recent auction was a 13 ˝ hour whirlwind of movie nostalgia and science fiction, a sale of 3,364 lots that was topped off by the sale of two original 1939 Oz movie posters for $33,000.
The posters had hung on the walls of an elegant eight-bedroom Victorian home in the Neatherwood section of Plainfield, New Jersey according to Tony Mendel, whose father was a devoted collector of Oz memorabilia, books, games and science fiction.
“I remember him always having those posters as a little kid,” the consignor said. “I’ve no idea where he got them, maybe from another collector. One he had hanging in his office the other was in the living room,” he added. “You look at them your whole life, but never in a million years would you believe that someone would pay that kind of money for that,” he added.
That “someone” is an East Coast collector who outbid several phone bidders and others on the auction floor, according to Bodnar, who last month won the New Jersey State Society of Auctioneers annual Bid Calling contest.
Mendel’s father, who was 95 when he died earlier this year, was a meticulous collector, with an extensive archive of Oz memorabilia, science fiction magazines and other paper ephemera.
Bodnar said most of the lots from the Victorian home went to four or five dozen determined collectors, who seemed to have no problem outbidding dealers.
“His estate was all paper goods, he had everything in the attic on shelves alphabetized and organized,” Bodnar said. “The science fiction magazine covers were fabulous, Martians, UFOs, all kinds of space stuff,” he added.
Advertising in the month prior to the sale drew more than the usual interest, according to Bodnar, with callers asking detailed questions about the posters, but it wasn’t until a few days prior to the Sept. 12 auction that Bodnar realized the consignor had hit the jackpot.
“Someone left an absentee bid of $8,100; once I heard that, I knew we had something special,” he said.
The eventual buyer came in for an early preview and Bodnar again sensed what he had.
“He wanted to see the borders; the posters were matted on cardboard and covered in plastic. I could tell the way he was looking at them that they were originals, so he actually helped to authenticate them,” he added.
Bodnar said other Oz posters retrieved from the previous owners’ home and sold at the auction were of the later vintage.
“When we were cleaning out the house we just assumed they were all the later dates,” he explained.
Neither poster was dated or marked with a serial number on the borders, unlike Oz posters that were re-issued in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s, according to Bodnar
The two Oz posters created a buzz prior to and during the auction at the Ukrainian Cultural Center where Bodnar holds his monthly sales; four auctions are held simultaneously in different sections of the hall.
“The posters came up around one p.m., and when we started hitting two, three, four, five thousand, everything else stopped, people came over from where we were selling box lots and costume jewelry to watch, it was really something else, people clapping, it really seemed to spark things the rest of the day,” he said. “It was a nice feeling for the business as a whole and the bidders, the way everyone is concerned about the economy,” he added.
“My furniture buyers were still coming in at six o’clock, it was the talk in the parking lot, they were saying ‘hey, we heard some Oz posters went for $16,000.’”
The first Oz poster to sell at $17,000 was a vertical with a purple background and yellow and orange block letters; the second, a horizontal image with a yellow background and block letters sold for $16,000. Both showed a young Judy Garland and the other stars of the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn Mayer classic in character – as the tin man, scare crow and cowardly lion - Ray Bolger, Jack Haley and Burt Lahr.
Other later vintage Oz posters from the 1950s sold for $250 and $350.
Other highlights from the sale of Oz memorabilia included:
A first edition Wizard of Oz book in poor condition with pages missing, $350; a lot of 10 vintage Wizard of Oz books, $400; a selection of press release photos from the Wizard of Oz averaged $50 for a total of $442.50 and a scare crow doll in a Wizard of Oz box sold for $225.
Also from the Mendel estate was a collection of Number 1 comics, including:
Famous film monsters, $325; The Specter, $50; The Invincible Iron Man, $190; Conan the Barbarian, $140; Ghost Rider, $100; Silver Surfer, $120; X-Men, $50; Weird Science #29, $170.
“A grouping of early sci-fi magazines in good condition took off and went wild,” Bodnar said. “We sold them in group lots of 4 ranging from $40 to $120 per lot, grossing $1,455.”
A lot of 3 sci-fi magazines that included the original artwork for the front covers sold for $500.
Dozens of Whitman Big Little books including Popeye, Buck Rodgers, Oliver Twist, Mickey Mouse and others, a total of 11 lots grossed $652.
Bodnar’s sale also included 165 16mm movie reels from an estate whose owner had owned and operated a movie theater in Union, New Jersey during the 1940s.
Highlights included: “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” $170; “Casablanca,” $300; “Dracula,” $130; “Frankenstein,” $275; “The Godfather,” $300; The Beatles 1964 romp “Hard Days Night,” $350; “The Hustler,” with Paul Newman, $190, “The Invisible Man,” $140; “King Kong,” $140; “Maltese Falcon,” $200, “Rebel Without A Cause,” $225, “Wuthering Heights,” $190 and “Gone With The Wind,” $180.
There were a few military items from the Mendel estate, including a WWII German helmet, $375; a trench art etched brass shell lamp, $85; a German hood ornament, $65 and a lot of Adolf Hitler propaganda records, $70.
A rundown of the sale provided by Bodnar shows 318 registered bidders from over 20 states; There were 1,357 box lots sold; 685 lots of paper-related and movie related items; 639 lots of individual items; 456 lots of costume jewelry and 227 lots of furniture.
Bodnar’s Oct. 8 sale will feature over 5,000 pieces of costume jewelry in 1,200 lots, all from the collection of a costume jewelry dealer and items from the estates of two physicians, including U.S. gold and silver coins.
Photos and details can be found on Bodnar’s website, www.bodnarsauctions.com.
