Continuing the collectability of Harry Potter merchandise, the first ever official Harry Potter fine art photography collection has launched, in a partnership between Classic Stills and Warner Bros Consumer Products.
The limited edition collection of 24 hand framed, individually numbered fine art photographs showing iconic moments from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone are just the latest evidence of the premium prices Potter fans are willing to pay to collect quality memorabilia. Prices range from $149 - $495, and each print is accompanied by a unique certificate of authenticity. Only 100 copies of each print are made, ensuring the artworks remain rare and are likely to appreciate in value over time.
In an interview about the collection, Classic Stills CEO Rene Freling stressed the importance of ensuring quality for fans paying premium prices for original photography from the movies:
Emma Pocock: How did the Harry Potter Classic Stills collection come about?
Rene Freling: It goes without saying that having the kind of imagery that works in a fine art format is really important for all our collections. We can’t expect fans of any movie to pay for a premium-quality product unless the product itself is exceptional – and that includes the photography. Once we’d seen the photography that was available, we took the decision to release a collection from each title in chronological order, so we could not only represent each movie, but also include as many of fans’ favorite characters and moments as we could. The longest part of the process is then deciding on which photographs to include.
Pocock: What classes as fine art when selecting photography from film archives? How did you choose which photographs to include?
Freling: It’s really the way the photographs are printed and presented that makes them ‘fine art prints’.
For our printing, we use the chromogenic print (C-print) process, which is a photo lab print produced on light-sensitive color paper and processed in wet chemistry. Essentially it’s a cross between old-school photography development and modern-processes, and it gives a really true representation of the photo that’s hard to replicate with digital printers. We use archival photo paper so the prints show vibrant colors and will maintain the look of the photograph over long periods of time. This paper is acid free, as is the matting and hinging we use, to prevent degradation. That way if you want to have the print (which is where the long-term value is) reframed in a few years, it should be completely intact. We then seal the back of the print to protect against moisture and dust, and use UV acrylic to protect the print against deterioration from light.
One thing we’ve been very conscious of is making sure these prints are as affordable to fans as possible without compromising on quality. You’d normally expect to pay several times the prices we charge if purchasing prints of this quality from an art gallery, which makes our collections incredibly good value for limited-edition fine art prints of this standard – particularly when you consider only 100 prints of each photo are available.
When it comes to making selections for the collection, the process starts with creating a long-list of the photographs that either capture an iconic moment, scene or character perfectly, or are simply stunning photographs. We try and represent the films as best we can from the photographs available, so once the long-list is complete, we print proofs to make sure the physical products look fantastic. Sometimes, especially with older photos that were not taken digitally, the prints don’t always stand up to our quality tests, so there are times when we can’t always include shots or moments we would like to.
From there, we make sure the final selection represents the film as a whole, and maintains a good balance of its iconic characters, scenes and imagery.
Pocock: What have you found to be the response to the collection so far? Who have you found are most interested in purchasing from the collection?
Freling: It’s early days, however, the shot of The Great Hall is already proving to be incredibly popular. It really is a stunning image, and the beauty of the photograph is clearly capturing fans’ imagination.
In terms of who’s buying, fine art prints are traditionally bought by a slightly older audience with higher disposable income, but we’re changing this by making a product that’s a lot more affordable than is found in art galleries. For this collection, we know there’s a huge appetite among Millennials for Harry Potter products, so while we don’t expect young fans to go out and buy several prints, we’re hoping that they can get their first taste of fine art prints much earlier than they might normally, even if it’s just by purchasing one of our smaller prints. We’re also expecting parents, who perhaps understand the long-term value of our prints and see them as an investment, to purchase for their children, if they want to treat them to something truly special and unique.
Overall, we’re creating a way for fans to have their favorite movies and TV shows live on in their homes in a way that’s never been available before – and have their walls decorated with stunning imagery at the same time. Movie posters have been around forever, and many of us hung these on our walls as kids, so purchasing fine art prints is just a natural extension of this for fans who want to decorate their homes and offices with something more collectible, valuable and rare.
In terms of feedback on the first Harry Potter collection, it’s all been great so far - although we did hear there was a slight disappointment that none of our images talked!
The collection takes further steps into ensuring the presence of Potter memorabilia as an ‘antique’, and continues the trend of Potter fans and collectors investing in themed goods for premium prices. The book series recently featured on Antiques Roadshow, where two Harry Potter books were valued at just under $4000 (£3000) by expert Justin Croft in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. In 2013, an annotated first edition copy with over 20 original drawings and notes sold for $228,000 (£150,000) in a charity auction by Sotheby’s. A new world record was set at Bonhams in November 2017, when a first edition copy of the first book sold for around $139,000 (£106,250). Other Potter ‘antique’ sales include leather-bound, handwritten and illustrated copies of Rowling’s companion book The Tales of Beedle the Bard, an exclusive seventh copy of which was sold by Sotheby’s for $3.98 million (£1.95 million) in 2007, benefiting J.K. Rowling’s children’s charity Lumos.
Collectors will be pleased to hear that Classics Stills plan to release fine art photography collections from all eight Potter films in chronological order, with a competition currently running to involve fans in selecting the imagery featured in the next collection, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The collection is available in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and some mainland European sites.
