Posters!
Psychedelic poster collectors, Grateful Dead fans, investors, and flippers alike are rubbing their eyes at the beautiful FD-26 “Skeleton & Roses” first-printing concert poster we have coming up in our Sunday, December 5 Showcase auction (internet only, no live auctioneer).
Before laying eyes on it, we had previously called it “average” or “standard” condition. But boy, were we pleasantly surprised. It’s a real gem, with the four tiny, clean pinpricks being about the only drawback. Those collectors who prefer their posters “organic” and not graded should be falling all over themselves for this one. Look for it early in the auction, about the 18th poster to close that morning.
AUCTION PREVIEW – 2021 December 5 Entertainment & Music Memorabilia Showcase Auction #41155
We also have a large, original Woodstock poster in that auction, signed by Arnold Skolnick. Additional treats include S.F. psychs signed by Wes Wilson, Rick Griffin, Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, David Singer, and Randy Tuten. A nice run of Neon Roses signed by Victor Moscoso, too, including the popular NR-12 Chambers Bros. (first & only printing).
Outside the psychedelic world, we have such a crazy & great variety. Included: the Beatles 1965 Shea Stadium handbill, two David Bowie 1970’s posters, four vintage James Brown posters, and a large Elvis Presley 1972 poster.
, two handbills & two posters from Alice Cooper from the ’70s, four small-sized Bob Dylan pieces from his 60’s heyday, two Aretha Franklin posters, the popular 1966 Grateful Dead/Joan Baez “Peace” Winnie the Pooh poster, five Jimi Hendrix handbills, five Jethro Tull pieces from the mid-’70s and earlier, three Led Zeppelin handbills, two pieces from Paul McCartney’s first post-Beatles tour in 1972, three Rolling Stones items, a great early 1979 Van Halen small-town concert poster, three Patti Smith posters, and two Stevie Ray Vaughan posters from when the guitar great was in Austin’s Cobras in the ’70s.
On the jazz tip, we have handbills from Duke Ellington at the Apollo and John Coltrane in New York City, concert posters from Louis Armstrong in the 1930s, Jack Teagarden in the ’40s, the Monterey Jazz Fest in the ’50s, and Miles Davis in the ’60s, and two programs from Billie Holiday.
From the 80’s-onwards we’re really tickled with our three Guns N’ Roses posters and two very early handbills. Also, a pair of U2 concert posters from the start of their career. And then we have our usual great selection of Pacific Northwest grunge posters featuring the likes of Nirvana, Husker Du, Mudhoney, the Replacements, the Violent Femmes, and Sonic Youth.
Get your coffee, donuts, and trigger finger ready, and see you in your bathrobe on the morning of Sunday, December 5!
Pete Howard, Director of Concert Posters