how iKONCame to be

In 1986, a young man walked into a memory shop in New York City, looking for old records. He noticed a large 41x81” poster of a cowboy—larger than life—with a ten-gallon hat, a bandanna across his face, and a six-shooter pointed in your direction. It wasn’t love at first sight—only like—but within 48 hours, that young man was back, paying what seemed to be a day’s wages to purchase the original cowboy poster from 1943.

That was the beginning of what eventually became an obsessive passion for these magnificent, almost forgotten, impressive, and majestic original movie posters.

Over the next couple of years, he would go back every few months to see what else he could afford on his modest salary.

As the years passed, he discovered there were others who shared his passion. He began to trade, buy, and sell with fellow collectors, gradually building an increasingly impressive cross-section of vintage movie posters.

By 1990, major auction houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s were holding auctions with prices consistently breaking the five-figure mark. Realizing this was becoming a serious business opportunity, we began aggressively chasing any and all little-known auctions throughout the Northeast. It became common to drive from New York to Syracuse for the day, or to follow a lead to a country auction in Vermont.

Trips to Syracuse, Watertown, or somewhere in the mountains of Maine became regular full-day adventures in pursuit of this passion—and the thrill of occasionally outbidding another collector.

By the early 2000s, with a collection of several thousand posters, he began to focus on specific timelines and themes—such as silent-era posters, with their magnificent stone lithography and brilliant colors. He also began to pursue posters from films made in Fort Lee, New Jersey—the birthplace of film in the USA, and, by coincidence, his hometown!

With a more successful business behind us, we became more competitive in acquiring the rarest and most valuable posters.

In 2018, we began construction on our brand-new building in Fort Lee, and the dream of the iKON Art Gallery finally became a reality!