James Bond poster for Thunderball expected to fetch $10k at auction

Take a gander at this huge poster from 1962 for Thunderball, starring Sean Connery as Agent 007 (in my book, Connery will always be the only 007, just as Shatner and Jeffrey Hunter will always be the only captains of any starship in the entire Star Trek franchise). The image in the upper right is definitely the work of paperback cover maestro Robert McGinnis. I'm not sure about the other three.

From Heritage Auctions:

One of the rarest James Bond movie posters ever made - a gigantic, advance British quad for Thunderball - may sell for $10,000 among a large collection of Bond-related paper and screen-used movie props in Heritage Auctions' April 7-8 Movie Poster Auction. The sale offers almost every Bond quad poster produced up until today, said Grey Smith, Director of Posters at Heritage.

"Theater owners were actually instructed to cut the advance quads for Thunderball into four sections," Smith said. "This makes the example in our auction one of only a small number of copies left uncut."

Each measuring 30 inches by 40 inches, quad posters are produced exclusively for British theaters and moviegoers. In creating the quad from Dr. No (United Artists, 1962) - the very first James Bond movie - artist Mitchell Hooks and designer David Chasman capture actor Sean Connery's debonair spy in mid-wink against a bright yellow background (est. $6,000-12,000).

A scarce, country-of-origin quad for From Russia with Love (United Artists, 1964) depicts what is arguably the best and most iconic image from the film thanks to artwork by Renato Fratini and Eric Pulford (est. $5,000-10,000). Featuring a gold-dipped Shirley Eaton superimposed over Bond (Sean Connery), the Style A quad for Goldfinger (United Artists, 1964) is perhaps one of the most desirable posters from the franchise's 26 movies, Smith said (est. $5,000-10,000).