One of just two surviving copies of the 1931 Dracula style A one-sheet just set a world record for most valuable movie poster ever sold at auction. The poster ascended to $525,800 on Saturday, November 18, 2017, during Heritage’s Movie Posters Signature Auction.

This poster excelled beyond the previous auction record of $478,000 set by Heritage in July 2017 for an Italian Casablanca poster from 1946 and in November 2014 for the only known copy of London After Midnight from 1927.

The style A Dracula poster depicts Bela Lugosi’s intimidating expression as the classic vampire of Universal Monsters. This poster is considered one of the most desirable horror posters ever produced. It was owned by noted film historian Lt. Col. George J. Mitchell, Jr., an Associate Member of the American Society of Cinematographers. He owned it since the 1950s before his family placed it in the auction.

“The reason my dad purchased the poster is because he loved horror films. He was drawn to the Bela Lugosi poster because it brought back childhood memories of seeing the film when it was first released,” Mitchell’s son, Arthur Mitchell said. “He remembered going to the theater … and remembered that there was an ambulance stationed in the lobby, in case anyone was so scared they needed medical attention.”

Mitchell was a longtime cinematographer and photographer who started a small film production company in San Diego after a 20-year career in the U.S. Army. He did video work for AFL and NFL Films, the San Diego Zoo, and military training films.

“It is a matter of opinion, but this poster probably is the most beautiful of all of the styles and one of only two styles that pictures Bela Lugosi in realistic terms or a faithful rendering – the other is a photographic image,” Heritage Vintage Posters Director Grey Smith said.