The Psychedelic Art Exchange is pleased to be able to share our newly produced video with our fans, friends, and clients.

Our seven minute video” The History of the Psychedelic Concert Poster” provides a brief overview of the genre through visual images of the posters themselves.

The documentary walks the viewer through the birth of the Psychedelic poster in 1965, and journeys through to 1969 with a overview of some of the era’s most enduring concert poster images. The video ends with a quick look at psychedelic poster’s most powerful creator “Rick Griffin”

Thanks to all who contributed to this production. Claire Moshenberg, who provided the Script, Joe Armstrong who supplied wonderful images of very early and scarce posters, & our talented design intern from Towson University Behnaz Babazadeh.

Happy viewing.

Most of the advice given out on this blog is pretty simple to follow and not hard to understand. Practicing the rules of successful collecting is, for the most part, really straightforward, easy to understand and is simply grounded in common sense.

Now I want to share with you a tip that almost NOBODY practices, will be hard for you to force yourself to follow and will bring you benefits beyond your wildest imagination!

The tip is, BUY THE KEYS FIRST!! What this means is this: Let’s say you decide to put together a set comprised of 30 posters. Let’s say that 25 of these posters are going to cost you $1000 each, 4 of the posters are going to cost you $5,000 each. And the rarest item in the set is going to cost you $10,000. My advice would be to invest $30,000 in the five keys of the set instead of spending the very same money on the 25 more common issues!

Most people would begin this set by acquiring the cheapest posters first. This will happen for two reasons. First, the cheaper items in the set are going to be the most common and readily available for purchase AND the collector, armed with a new project can quickly make a major dent in his/her “want list”. Of course, the fact that these items are also the most affordable also makes each purchase decision easier to swallow and “less painful”.

But here is where reality defers from how everything “looks on paper”. Many collectors, after spending a year or two and $25,000 on the more common issues will either run out of money, or enthusiasm. And, during the previous two years, the 5 keys that were worth $30,000 are now going to cost you close to $40,000!

For the very same investment, the collector could have had the ENTIRE SET OF KEYS, the posters that everyone wants but no one has, and had a collection that would be highly coveted and increasingly more desirable with each passing year. The collector could then, at a leisurely pace, fill in the holes of the more common issues as the opportunity presents itself. And because the collector with the keys now owns a world class grouping that brings much pride and joy, he/she is MUCH more likely to stick with the hobby and enjoy all of the opportunities that exist by participating for the long haul.

This is a hard strategy to follow, especially for someone just starting out. But if you talk to any seasoned collector who has been around the block a few times, they will all have war stories of having been offered a key that they passed on, only to snap it up later at a far higher price. Some advanced collectors have even modified this strategy to “Buy Only The Keys”. They would rather exclusively collect only the finest and rarest, preferring to “keep their powder dry” for just “the best of the best”.

No matter how far you take it, stick with the number one rule of collecting..Buy the Highest Condition and Rarity that you can afford and you will be richly rewarded in this exciting marketplace!

Over the past two weeks, the price record for a comic book was broken not once, but TWICE…each time exceeding $1,000,000 for a SINGLE Comic Book!!!

The first record to be broken was for THE FIRST Superman comic book ever published in FINEST KNOWN, UNRESTORED condition!!! The book sold for $1,000,000 via private treaty.

Just a few days later THE FIRST appearance of Batman sold at public auction for $1,075,000. Want the real surprise, the book brought the record amount because it was THE FINEST KNOWN!

Want another “huge” surprise? The reporter for the Washington Post said “They don’t want a Van Gogh or a Warhol or a Picasso. They want something that means something to them. Spider- Man, Superman and Batman—that’s history to them. And in this country, we’re a society built on popular culture.

Folks, in this blog, and on this site we go to every possible length to bring you the most sophisticated and expert advice that is available on collectibles ANYWHERE. This advice is a culmination of over 50 years of combined experience in the collectibles markets and over $125,000,000 in sales. The advice has allowed me to retire for life and move to Park City, Utah at age 42.

Check the blog for our post titled, “The most important number in collectibles” where we explain why the FIRST of anything is so highly desired. Check our blog posts ad nauseum on why condition is so critically important and why restored ANYTHING should be avoided like the plague. Check our blog post titled “Don’t be a thumbsucker” which explains why it is CRITICAL to pay whatever it takes to get the finest known material. Check our blog titled “2010 Predictions Part One” where we explain the rush into tangible assets. Check our special report “ 12 Critical Reasons Why..” where we explain that these posters are so highly desirable due to their historical significance and tremendous fanbase of the music and era”.

Thankfully, we have several hundred clients around the world that do “get it”. They understand that if you pay $15,000 for a poster most would say is worth $8,000 or $9,000 but is the finest known, that THEY are in the cat bird seat, and THEY can NAME THEIR PRICE when the time comes to sell. They are winners and we’re glad to represent them.

Right now, the Finest and Rarest and Most Desirable concert posters in the world can still be bought for ridiculously low sums. People that act on this opportunity are going to be richly rewarded. We give you the advice, the posters and the guarantees. The rest is up to you!

One final comment, it would be great to get some feedback on the advice we impart. A great deal of research, thought and care goes into each post. Please take a second to comment on our posts so that we can begin a meaningful two way dialog. That way, we as the authors can get something out of this endeavor as well as the readers. Thank you.

You can read further on the two record comic books at the following links:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/35524375/ns/today-today_books/

http://heritageauctions.blogspot.com/2010/02/batman-beats-superman-1075500-price-is.html

We’re glad to be back posting this blog. Whenever you see a pause in our postings you can be certain the reason is we’re too busy to post, as there is never a shortage of news to report on here at Psychedelic Art Exchange! In the coming couple of weeks we will have a MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT that is sure to be of interest to all collectors of Classic 1960’s Psychedelic Rock Concert Posters.

This new project has been directly responsible for the dearth of correspondence in recent weeks. Check back here often in the coming days as we will be working hard to “play catch up” and will be putting up frequent posts to bring everyone up to date on this fast evolving market!

First off, about three weeks ago, I had the pleasure of spending some time with poster collector extraordinaire, Mr. Joe Armstrong. Joe is universally recognized as one of the most knowledgeable poster collectors in the world. Joe began collecting for fun during his college days in the Sixties, and has been a major force in the marketplace since the early Nineties. Joe’s collection has to rank, without a doubt, as one of the very finest in the world.

Besides extensive expertise, Joe is a genuinely nice guy who is never too busy to answer questions or impart advise. I highly recommend you visit his site, www.vintageconcertposters.com. Joe and I met on the slopes here at Park City where we ripped it up going down the mountain and had a chance to discuss all things “Psychedelic” on the chair lifts up!

Joe agreed that there are two major trends happening in the marketplace right now. First, prices are continuing to steadily rise. When following the collectibles market, price information is harder to come by. Unlike stocks and commodities, you can’t get an hourly or daily price quote. This means that on the surface, it may appear that nothing is happening, but when you realize as Joe pointed out that Mint Condition FD26’s (now $15000-20,000) used to trade for $1000-$1500 in the early nineties, the long term price performance of the best pieces in the best condition is simply staggering.

Secondly, Joe reiterated that he sees a definite shift of focus among collectors. Collectors are aggressively seeking out the few remaining posters that have somehow survived in Mint Condition. Collectors are willing to pay “whatever it takes” for the best quality material while posters with pinholes and other signs of damage that sold quickly in years past are now becoming more difficult to unload.

At Psychedelic Art Exchange we saw this trend coming from miles away and have always advised our clients to acquire the finest quality pieces they could locate and afford. There will always be a market for the cream of the crop, while run of the mill will always and forever elicit yawns. The choice is yours, but always remember, the Trend is Your Friend!