Dealers need to turn inventory in order to make a living. They know down to the very last dollar what something is worth today…but only today. Lets sat that mythical poster XYZ is incredibly rare and only appears in Mint Condition once every two or three years. Let’s also assume that it is commonly believed that less than a dozen Mint copies exist and that the last one to appear sold for $2500 two years ago. With these fact, the dealer will probably assume 10% appreciation for two years, bringing the value he/she is willing to pay to $3000, with the idea that the piece can be resold for a profit at $3250-3500. Armed with this information, the dealer will pass on this item at anything over $3100.00

Long term this could prove to be a huge mistake. 1) There is no telling when a similar piece will enter the market. If it’s another three years, this could easily be a $5000 poster, but the dealer misses out because of $100. 2) The dealer is not taking into account that Mint Material has migrated into very strong and sophisticated hands which greatly increases the cost when the next piece does appear. 3) The dealer fails to recognize that the popularity and appeal of the material is now going mainstream into major museums around the world, 4) The dealer fails to recognize that the appreciation and rarity of Mint material is exploding upward, with premiums jumping to levels similar to what is found in other collectibles. I could go on and on. The bottom line is that the dealer was so “smart” about knowing what the piece was worth from past facts, that he could not ascertain the true value of the piece moving forward! That’s just dumb!

We see this in the financial markets as well. Mutual Fund managers will regularly pass on undervalued companies with great 3-5 year possibilities because they don’t see a catalyst that will move the stock in the next quarter!

As a collector, you need to use this superior position and long term outlook to your advantage. Recognize opportunities for what they are. Don’t penny wise and pound foolish. Most times, paying that extra 25% now will be a whole lot cheaper than what you’ll pay 3 years down the road when the opportunity presents itself again. Let time and positive fundamentals work for you..not against you. Be long term greedy. You’ll look like a genius and will have a lot more fun with you collection if you have the strength to play out your hand!

The following is an excerpt from the article;
“The research, originally compiled for Heritage auctions and updated and
expanded by Halperin and Cantu, helps explain why a poster for the 1932 film
Freaks increased in value from $10 to $107,550 in 30 years (it’s the only one
of its kind), why we may never see the 1927 Lon Chaney film London After
Midnight (all prints have been lost), and why Flying Down to Rio posters are
highly prized by collectors (the musical marks the debut of Fred Astaire and
Ginger rogers as a dancing team).
Vintage movie posters as a collectibles category have boomed in the
past 20 years, says Grey Smith, director of vintage movie posters at Heritage
auctions. “before 1990,” he says, “the most valuable posters were under
$10,000.” today, top prices are rapidly approaching $500,000. “

I also highly recommend that you subscribe for FREE o Heritage Magazine. It is the finest collectibles magazine of its kind. Great articles, fantastic information and beautiful photos, all for free. Subscribe at www.Ha.com

The Finest 1960’s Concert Poster Auction Ever!

Preview begins April 26, 2010

Bidding Begins: May 15, 2010

Bidding Ends May 22, 2010

We are proud to offer you a collectibles event that has been over 25 years in the making! The Pinnacle Collection contains the finest accumulation of MINT early 1960’s concert posters ever offered at public auction. Each and every poster was hand selected for its unsurpassed quality and eye appeal with no compromises allowed or included! Many of the posters offered here are being offered for the FIRST TIME IN DECADES. Please carefully consider the unique opportunity at hand as it will surely be many years –if ever—that a sale of this caliber takes place again.

Students of the collectibles markets understand that it is sales like this that sow the seeds of future great collections…will one of them be yours? All great collections are ultimately built on the back of previous collectors that for one reason or another choose to liquidate their holdings. This happens infrequently, and when it does, you can throw the price guides and previous sales data out the window as seasoned collectors circle like sharks for the juiciest meat of the sale.

The highlights here are too numerous to mention. Each and every piece is an Original First Printing unless otherwise noted. All posters have been PAE Authenticated and Graded and are backed by the strongest guarantees available anywhere. Make no mistake about it, collectors will need to “stretch” to claim a prize in this sale. Our best advice is to remember that quality is remembered LONG after price is forgotten. The question that needs to be asked is whether you will care 10 or 15 years from now that you paid some reasonable premium to secure a rarity today? We think not!

We hope that each and every one of you enjoy viewing and bidding on this sale as much as we enjoyed cataloging it. Psychedelic Art Exchange prides itself on offering unsurpassed quality and service and we believe this historic event clearly delivers on this goal.

Now, I’m sure the person who sold this book is quite pleased that they paid “whatever it takes” some years back as this premium translated to a $500,000 premium on the back end. The auctioneer who handled the sale is quoted as saying “The book looks like it came off the presses yesterday. It’s a stunning copy, it almost looks brand new.”

This is just another example of what we’ve been instructing our clientele to do. If you get the opportunity to buy a finest known poster for $12,000 that everyone else thinks is “worth $8500”, you are one lucky collector. That $3500 premium now puts you in the catbird seat and allows you to ask whatever you wish down the road.
I bought 6 coins for an “extra premium” of about $200,000 total, and today those coins are worth an extra 6 or 7 MILLION dollars. That’s the way the collectibles market works. Always has worked that way, always will. Some people understand the concept right away, some never at all. You need to figure out which group you are in.

Also, this recent news further reiterates why we believe that museum quality Mint Condition posters are stupid cheap. The finest known examples of the most famous issues are still priced for a song. This situation is changing as you read this, act quickly before the window of opportunity slams shut forever.

I urge you to take three minutes to read the whole article on the record comic book here:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/03/30/superman.comic/
Also, if you enjoy these commentaries, please click on the title of this post and leave a comment!

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.

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!

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

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!

There is one number in collectibles that is instantly more sought after and valuable than any other number and that is the number ONE. ONE as in FIRST!! The first corvette, the first Batman comic, the first U.S. coin are all immediately recognizable due to the HISTORIC IMPORTANCE of the collectible in question. Anybody and everybody can understand THE FIRST, and therefore THE FIRST of everything has an intrinsic desirability to people inside AND outside a collectible market.

So how does this pertain to Classic 1960’s Psychedelic Rock Concert Posters? Well the BG1 and the FD1 and the first posters at any other venue have always enjoyed top demand. But so is the FIRST appearance of a given band at a venue, or THE FIRST poster designed by an artist, or THE FIRST year of a band’s existence. There are lots of FIRSTS that one can collect…but be certain of one thing…there will always be more people that want to own these items than there is supply to go around. So it’s up to you to use this knowledge to your advantage. You won’t be the FIRST to profit from it and you certainly won’t be the last!!