Rock & Roll Poster Collection, ca. 1968
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GUEST:
I brought my brother's concert posters that he started collecting in the early '60s as an early teenager. He used to send money for postage to Bill Graham and the Fillmore West, and they'd send him a poster in the mail to Oklahoma City.
APPRAISER:
Where have you been keeping them for so many years?
GUEST:
Well, my brother passed away 28 years ago, I believe, and they were always on his wall, and I thought they were gone, and I was talking to my mom
about it and said it would be really nice if we had those posters back since he was gone, and she said, "I have them in a box under my bed." So that's where they've been until about a year ago.
APPRAISER:
You brought in a collection of 47 posters, and most of them fall between about 1967 and 1969. And with so many of them, we only had time to choose just a few posters, and I picked out three specifically. I decided to bring out all the rest just to give you an idea of the scope of what you have.
GUEST:
I kind of tried to do a little bit of research, but the more I did, the more confused I got. I know it matters--there's reprints, there's first printings, there's printings all over the map, and I know they have a hole in them, and I don't know.
APPRAISER:
With posters, condition is everything. You want it to be in the best possible shape. And every pinhole, every tear, every tape mark lowers the value slightly.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
But the difficulty, especially with these concert posters, is the values are all over the place. Some sell for very little, some sell for a lot, and not only does it depend on which concert, which artist played, but also is it a first edition print, is it printed before the concert or is it printed after the concert? There are many different editions. The first up is one of the most iconic 1960s rock and roll posters,
the Jimi Hendrix flying eyeball from 1968, with art by Rick Griffin, and it is just the peak of '60s psychedelic art. This is among one of the most desirable collectable rock posters.
GUEST:
Really?
APPRAISER:
This is a first edition, and you can tell because of the placement of the "Bill Graham" and the poster number. The poster number is 105 from "Bill Graham Presents," and because of its placement under the word "tickets," you can tell it's a first edition.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
In this condition, with no pinholes but a little bit of damage to it, but not much, very minor, we'd put an auction estimate of $5,000 to $7,000.
GUEST:
No way. No way! Wow, that's awesome.
APPRAISER:
That's just one.
GUEST:
Oh! Nuh-uh! Well, it's the best, right?
APPRAISER:
It's among the best, yes.
GUEST:
Okay. Wow. Holy moly. That's amazing.
APPRAISER:
It gets better when we go through all of them.
(laughing)
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
The second one, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, at the height of his career, it was in 1968, he's headlining. This particular poster is $3,000 to $5,000.
GUEST:
Awesome.
APPRAISER:
And over on the far end there, we've got the Grateful Dead performing at Cafè au Go Go in Greenwich Village. That was at their New York
premiere, the first time they played in New York in 1967, and that one is around $2,000 to $3,000.
(laughing)
GUEST:
Wow. For a poster?
(laughs)
APPRAISER:
You have 47.
GUEST:
Oh, my gosh!
(laughs)
APPRAISER:
You've got 47 of these...
GUEST:
I can't even do the math!
APPRAISER:
Well, let me do the math for you.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
You've got 47 posters.
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
And for a grand total of, at auction, between $20,000 and $35,000.
GUEST:
Oh, wow. That's great. Oh, my goodness. Wow. Wow! He loved them and I love them too. I want to do something with them, you know? I don't know what to do. Enjoy them not in a box anymore.
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