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| Passion Investments: Art |
It's Not Only Rock 'n' Roll
Richard John Pietschmann
10/01/2005
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Expert
collectors, however, consider only
boxing-style concert posters to be
genuinely collectible. They claim
psychedelics are inferior because
they are still relatively easy to find, and at
least some of their
worth is dependent on their subjective value as art.
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| THE FIRST printing of the poster is valued at $15,228. A
first printing of
the 1966 Grateful Dead Skull and Roses poster sold
for $3,893. | “A
concert poster should celebrate
a musical artist as opposed to a visual artist,
which is why
psychedelic doesn’t interest me at all,” Diamond explains. “They’re
also common. You can pick up a phone and, if you have the money, buy a
Jimi
Hendrix Flying Eyeball poster.”
At WolfgangsVault.com, such a
design sells for
over $7,500 for a first printing or $1,400 for a
second printing. “But,” Diamond
continues, “if you want a Beatles Shea
Stadium, you can’t call the Beatles
store. You can’t find a Billie
Holiday 1948 poster or a Buddy Holly poster at
the drop of a hat the
way you can the psychedelic posters.”
Armstrong, who
collects
both types of concert posters—he owns all 287 posters in Bill Graham’s
exuberantly psychedelic numbered BG series, as well as Beatles and
Rolling
Stones boxing-style posters—thinks the dispute is silly. “These
posters are the
story of the music and the art. To say only a certain
kind of poster matters is
kind of ridiculous.”
According to Howard, three variables make a poster
from the collectible period valuable. “In a nutshell, it’s the caliber
of the
artist, the poster’s appearance and its scarcity. If it’s a
C-level artist but
it’s a killer-looking poster and really rare, it’s
not going to do well. If it’s
a killer artist and is really rare but
it’s an ugly poster, it had better have
some historical significance.
And if it’s a great artist and looks great, but
there are 200 of them,
nobody gets excited.”
The growing problem of
counterfeits preys
on the minds of inexperienced collectors, particularly those
interested
in boxing-style posters. “There are a lot of forgeries and frauds out
there,” Zakarin says, “especially now with the big money.” He tells of
a new
concert poster collector who showed him an Elvis Presley poster
for which he had
paid more than $8,000, but Zakarin quickly pegged it
as a phony. “Unfortunately,
the only way somebody can protect himself
is by asking the advice of reputable
dealers, or knowing whom to talk
to in what I call the network of real,” he
adds. Though the same caveat
emptor rules apply for psychedelic posters,
assistance is easier to
find. WolfsgangsVault.com certifies the authenticity of
everything it
sells, and Eric King’s pair of invaluable but hard-to-find
collectors
guides help level the playing field.
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