A Katy couple's magic touch on vintage movie posters

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."