YORK, Penn. – Hake’s Tuesday, March 19 and Wednesday, March 20 auction features 1,928 lots ranging from original comic-book art to a Dave Grohl handwritten Nirvana set list. Both Day 1 and Day 2 catalogs are now available for preview at LiveAuctioneers.
The sale is led by the original teaser poster artwork for Wes Craven’s 1984 slasher classic A Nightmare on Elm Street. Created and consigned by Duncan Eagleson, the poster has never been offered for public sale. Eagleson’s airbrushed acrylic painting is a tranquil depiction of a suburban neighborhood at dusk, with one significant difference. Ominously positioned overhead is a huge triple-bladed metal claw that has violently ripped through the sky, a portent of what was to come. Eagleson sized the artwork to suit a 27 by 40in poster, but it was not used as the final U.S. movie poster – Matt Peak created that particular artwork, which features four, not three, blades. Eagleson’s art appeared in a pre-release newspaper ad campaign and on posters issued in Europe. To his surprise, it was even featured on the 20th anniversary release of NOES in 2004. His absolutely unique original artwork, signed and dated ’83, is the seminal visual for what would become a long-running film franchise. It is offered at auction with a $20,000-$35,000 estimate.
A sealed booster box from Wizards Of The Coast’s 1994 Magic: The Gathering Legends edition contains 36 packs, each with 15 cards, or 540 cards in total. It represents the third expansion set for Magic: The Gathering and is the first to include playing cards with multiple colors. The lot is estimated at $20,000-$35,000.
A complete 1959 Fleer The Three Stooges master set of 99 collector cards is CGC graded, with the set graded 5.53 overall. The cards feature full-color photo fronts with images from various Stooges shorts. Additionally, cards #1, #2, and #3 feature portrait photos of Curly, Larry, and Moe, and both the standard and highly sought-after ‘checklist’ version of cards #16, #63, and #64 are included. The original wax wrapper adds the finishing touch, which was formerly part of the John Grossman collection. Its estimate is $10,000-$20,000.
The 1980s was the decade in which Mattel unleashed its medieval-sword and sci-fi media franchise Masters of the Universe. Building on its original 1982 action-figure line, Mattel followed with scores of toys and minicomics, including the fantasy-fueled extravaganza all collectors covet: the 1986 Mattel Masters of the Universe Eternia Series 5 playset. In its March sale, Hake’s will unveil one of the highest of all AFA-graded examples of this set (AFA 80 NM). “When introduced, it was a very expensive toy, so not many parents bought it. Today, it’s a great rarity,” Hake’s Alex Winter said. It carries an estimate of $10,000-$20,000.
From Aurora’s Golden Age of model kits comes a boxed, never-built Godzilla’s Go Kart. The zany box art for this kit, copyrighted 1966, depicts the Japanese monster charging downhill on a go kart with a license plate that reads ‘People Beware.’ Due to its small original production run and very limited distribution, the Godzilla kit is beyond rare. In fact, it is the only boxed example Hake’s has handled in 57 years of operation. From the Janusey Brothers collection, it is estimated at $10,000-$20,000.
