A lifetime collection of cinema memorabilia, which survived an bomb explosion, are to go under the hammer this weekend in Newark.<\/p>\n
The haul of 2,500 film posters, lobby cards and autographs was built up over 70 years by film buff Steve Ellison.<\/p>\n
The collection will be sold in 75 lots at Hansons\u2019 Auction Room, Hansons, on Northgate, Newark, tomorrow (August 9) at 9.30am.<\/p>\n
Charles Hanson on the Rostrum at The Auction Room Hansons Newark<\/p>\n
Many of the items had been on sale at his shop in the Corn Exchange in Manchester when an IRA lorry bomb ripped through the building in 1996.<\/p>\n
His daughter, Jayne Macclean, said: \u201cLuckily dad wasn\u2019t hurt but he remembers the glass shattering everywhere and landing on his beloved posters.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the bombing, the shop \u2014 dubbed Steve\u2019s World Famous Movie Store \u2014 moved to Rochdale, before shipping the collection home to Wigan after he retired.<\/p>\n
For years after Steve stopped trading, the posters were crammed into the family\u2019s small bungalow.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou couldn\u2019t move for film posters \u2013 they were everywhere, jammed in every room and every doorway,\u201d said Jayne.<\/p>\n
Groundhog Day, one of approximately 50 folded film posters including Sister Act, Stir Crazy and Sleeping with the Enemy. The lot has an estimate \u00a350-\u00a3100. Photo provided: Hansons Auctioneers.
One poster for The Pack and Blue Sunshine sometimes shown together as a double feature in the 70s. As one of approximately 50 folded film posters, it has an estimate of \u00a350-\u00a3100. Photo provided: Hansons Auctioneers.<\/p>\n
Now, Jayne and stepmum Jennifer have made the difficult decision to sell the collection.<\/p>\n
Auctioneer, Steve Witts from Hansons Auctioneers, said: \u201cI have never seen anything like it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are boxes and boxes of some of the most iconic films ever made.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are delighted to help Jayne and Jen find a new home for Steve\u2019s collection and pay tribute to a remarkable collector and his incredible film knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve\u2019s love of the big screen started as a young schoolboy, and he grew up to achieve his dreams.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad\u2019s dad was a cinema projectionist,\u201d Jayne added. \u201cWhich was great but also meant dad only got to see the end of films when he called in on his way back from school.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt piqued his interest and made him determined to watch the whole movie \u2014 which sparked a lifelong interest.\u201d<\/p>\n
A poster for Shrek, one of approximately 50 film posters including Adams Family, Ace Ventura, Sister Act 2 and Boomerang. The lot has an estimate of \u00a350-\u00a3100. Photo provided: Hansons Auctioneers.
The China Syndrome, one of approximately 50 film posters. The lot has an estimate \u00a350-\u00a3100. Photo provided: Hansons Auctioneers.
A box of assorted autographs, including one signed by the entire cast of EastEnders. It has an estimate of \u00a350-\u00a380. Photo provided: Hansons Auctioneers.<\/p>\n
Soon enough, Steve had built a reputation for his encyclopaedic knowledge of films, as well as growing number of posters and star-studded autographs, as friends passed their collections on to him.<\/p>\n
As well as running a successful business he also supplied posters as props for some of the UK\u2019s biggest TV programmes, including Coronation Street and Eastender.<\/p>\n
Steve began rubbing shoulders with the stars including Barbara Windsor, Ken Dodd, and even the Star Wars franchise\u2019 R2-D2 actor Kenny Baker.<\/p>\n
Jayne continued: \u201cDad kept up friendships with the stars long after their heyday From the earliest days of Hollywood, to recent blockbusters, there is hardly a film not represented in the incredible haul.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A lifetime collection of cinema memorabilia, which survived an bomb explosion, are to go under the hammer this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,609,2465,13738,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-327064","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-human-interest","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-newark","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114991462070384167","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}