1968-1969 German Concert Posters
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GUEST:
I got these posters when I was 16 years old. My dad was stationed in Germany with the Air Force. I was going to school there, at Frankfurt High School, and all my friends and I used to go to these concerts downtown.
APPRAISER:
Do you have impressions of seeing Jimi and his crew, you know, Jimi and The Experience?
GUEST:
You cannot see someone like that, of that caliber and not be permanently changed. We went to the shows early so that we could be in front when the doors would open, and it was common practice for anybody that could get to them quickly to strip the posters off the walls and pull them down. It was considered acceptable behavior.
APPRAISER:
First-come, first-served sort of behavior. We have one from The Doors and The Canned Heat, one with Jimi Hendrix and The Experience, and we have Ray Charles. Most of these posters were for concerts in Frankfurt, Germany, or in the area where you were. The poster artist's name was G¸nther Kieser. Kieser was born in 1930, and during the 1950s, he created posters for jazz greats Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Johnny Coltrane, all the greats. By the '60s, he moved into rock and he began to define all the rock concerts with psychedelic art. The concert promoters were Lippmann and Rau.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
In 1967, '68, they were working with Cream, they were working with the greatest artists. They worked with Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones. What was your first concert you went to over there?
GUEST:
Oh, golly, I don't remember all of them. From Derek and the Dominoes to Frank Zappa to Led Zeppelin.
APPRAISER:
What I love about the German posters versus the American posters, the American ones were put out in large production. They're also graphically a little different. They weren't as pop. The German culture, for years, their factories have made the best graphics in the world. I think that these are way ahead of the American posters at the time. This is an ultra-rare 1968 Jim Morrison flypaper poster. I've never seen that in any auction catalog. I'm sure they might be out there for sale. This one with Jimi Hendrix, I've never been able to find an original. I think that this is one of the masterpieces of rock art right here. This concert is from January 16, 1969. The year before, he had been named Artist of the Year by the main entertainment magazine. And then Ray, of course. I love that they've done the whole psychedelic look with Ray. As far as the value on the three posters here before us, I'm going to say the value on the group at auction would be $4,000 to $5,000.
GUEST:
Very good.
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