According to Auction Central News, Barbara Franchi, a well-known movie ephemera expert and murder mystery reviewer, died on Feb. 28 at her home in Los Angeles. She was 73 years old.
Barbara Franchi was founder of the mystery fiction review Web site, which was funded through her career in movie poster sales. Together with her husband, Barbara operated The Nostalgia Factory, a collectibles shop founded in Montreal in 1969. Its base was moved to Newport, R.I., and in the mid-1980s to Boston.
During the early 1990s, Barbara transferred the inventory of the shop electronically to the Web site. As an early participant in the world of Internet commerce, the site eventually became a top online vendor of original vintage movie, introducing many innovations that later became common practices in the industry. Barbara was also co-author of Miller's Movie Collectibles
