‘It Came From… Van Eaton Galleries!’ sale set for Sept. 25-26
LOS ANGELES – Van Eaton Galleries, one of the world’s premiere animation and collectibles auction houses, has announced the “It Came From… Van Eaton Galleries!” auction, a two-day sale scheduled for September 25 and 26 featuring more than 1,000 lots of extraordinary pop culture artifacts. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.
Of the many items to be offered, nothing quite compares to the collection of vintage movie memorabilia from Linda Ondo. She inherited a massive vintage sci-fi collection after the passing of her cousin, David, and was shocked to learn it was one of the greatest collections of vintage sci-fi posters ever seen in private hands. The vintage sci-fi posters in the collection are extremely rare and feature sought-after titles including Forbidden Planet, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Invasion of the Saucer Men, War of the Worlds, and The Day the Earth Stood Still.
Mike Van Eaton recalls, “When Linda came in saying she inherited a vintage movie poster collection, I was hopeful that while we went over her collection together, there might be a few nice gems in it. What I didn’t expect was she would have one of the most impressive and complete collections of vintage sci-fi posters that I have ever encountered. We have worked with many collections over the years, and this is far and above the greatest collection of 1950s-1970s sci-fi posters we have seen in private hands.”
Ondo inherited the collection from her cousin, David Ichikawa. A US Army veteran and video technician, Ichikawa spent the majority of his professional and personal life preserving cultural history captured on film. A lifelong film fan, David did the rounds of the collectibles shops on Hollywood Boulevard, befriended theater managers with the offer to take old posters off their hands, and in many cases, rescued now-classic movie memorabilia from ending up directly in theater trashcans.
As a graduate of the California Institute of Art in Valencia, he turned his trained eye to curating his collection, which ultimately included examples of many of the most influential and revolutionary designs in motion picture history. The public appearance of many single items from his collection would cause a stir among collectors. For this entire body of material to emerge at once constitutes a historic event.
David and his brother started collecting at a young age, being the type of children who preferred to keep their action figures pristine in the box instead of playing with them. In later years, their collecting grew primarily as a desire to keep a part of the movies they enjoyed so much with them as a memento.
In the 1970s-1980s, when movies started producing action figures, toys and posters, the brothers went to Hollywood stores to buy them. Every weekend, they visit Hollywood memorabilia shops and buy toys, photographs, posters, movie props and more.
According to Ondo, “David had all kinds of equipment related to his passions. He had a huge projector and screen and he collected 100 reels of film, like Goldfinger and Forbidden Planet. He would often play an old movie for us on the projector during family gatherings.” He passed away March 22, 2007 at age 59 due to ongoing health issues.
Highlights of the incredible Sci-Fi poster collection include a The Day the Earth Stood Still 1-sheet poster, estimated at $6,000-$8,000; a War of the Worlds 1-sheet poster estimated at $3,000-$5,000; a Creature from the Black Lagoon 1-sheet poster estimated at $2,000-$4,000; a Forbidden Planet silkscreened poster estimated at $7,000-$10,000; an Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1-sheet poster estimated at $1,000-$2,000; and an Invasion of the Saucer Men 1-sheet poster estimated at $3,000-$5,000.
The two-day event also includes The Simpsons memorabilia from the collection of Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson, and features personal and career memorabilia from the hit television show. Items include a custom made The Simpsons pinball machine estimated at $7,000-$10,000, as well as television production cels and other items which Cartwright is selling in support of the charity The Know More About Drugs (KMAD) Alliance.
Other highlights that defined pop culture include a Millennium Falcon six-foot Star Wars Toys R’ Us display, estimated at $2,000-$3,000; a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Wonka bar prop from the 2005 Tim Burton movie, estimated at $500-$700; a John Lennon Yellow Submarine production drawing, estimated at $300-$500; a Star Trek pilot master script for The Cage, estimated at $2,000-$4,000; an original Kem Weber Walt Disney Studios animator’s desk, estimated at $4,000-$6,000; and hundreds of other lots of toys, Disneyland memorabilia and props, and items from television and film.
View top auction results on LiveAuctioneers here: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/pages/recent-auction-sales/