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KATY, Texas — What started as a hobby is now bringing movie magic to life all over the world.
In 1994, Betsy and Harry Proctor opened The Limited Edition Art & Antiques store on 5717 2nd St in Katy. There you will find antiques including classic vinyl albums but the shop is known worldwide for his movie posters and their restoration.
“Our biggest seller is Stars Wars and the Gone with the Wind Poster, which is very popular,” Betsy will tell you with a smile.
Betsy and Harry got into the poster restoration business fifteen years ago when their son bought a poster for $50 dollars and ended up spending $600 more to get it linen backed.
Harry was newly retired and looking for a new hobby, “I didn’t know what linen backing was but I thought I could learn to do it in my spare time. We destroyed a lot of posters but eventually got it down.”
Betsy being an artist and a photographer she jumped in to help, “you would be amazed in what you can do with these really messed up posters.”
The Proctor’s new venture didn’t really take off until a web designer stopped by and offered to build Harry and Betsy a website in exchange for some posters. Harry thought it was a good idea, “I didn’t start out looking to make money, it was just a hobby. We now sell them internationally, that’s the beauty of the website.”
Some buy the posters for the art value, some for sentimental value of a first date, some because they just like the image. A Star Wars concert poster signed by composer John Williams brought the largest sell for the Proctors. It went for $11,000 to a buyer in Hong Kong.
All of the Proctor’s posters are originals which will add to their value in the future. Harry says technology will play a part, “the movie theatres are moving to a digital format, the appeal for posters will probably go up because they will be tougher to find.”
