I'm not a long time collector, I've only been at it about three years. I spent hours doing google searches trying to learn about and find good sources for information and still do
. Not to bash EB, it has lots of posters listed in the database. (It was a Google search that brought me here). For the newer collectors looking for values, the information here is pretty outdated and not complete. (My opinion, your mileage may vary!) Like collecting any other type of poster, it shouldn't be all about value, I'm just saying values generally go up over time so if you look at the EB graph and see a poster you like with a six month average of $x, that might be what is was generally going for three or four years ago, not today.I digress; here are a couple of web sites that provide at least basic information on lots of posters, handbills and postcards. These are the two sites that I started with. They also sell and I've bought from all of them. Personally, I think these are all trustworthy sellers regarding authenticity.
http://www.classicposters.com./. Mike, the guy that owns/runs this site is super cool. I have bugged him over the years and he has never made me feel like a burden. He always responds to emails quickly and is just an all around nice guy. You'll notice an Auction link on the home page. There's an auction several times a year and one can often get good deals on rare and cool pieces. One can also see posters go for $15,000 on really rare items that may not be seen anywhere else and are certainly not available on a regular basis.
http://www.sixtiesposters.com/. This one is similar to ClassicPosters, although I'm noticing less stock available than there used to be. It too has an auction several times a year. It took me a while to learn you need to click "The Heart of Rock and Roll" to link to the auction site. Again, more rare and cool goodies in every auction. This auction has made much more of a transition to modern posters. There's still lots of oldies, but you can see Chuck Sperry, Derek Hess, Emek, etc in these auctions most of the time.
A site that has most early Fillmore (BG - Bill Graham) and FD (Family Dog) material is Wolfgangsvault: http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/memorabilia/
. The prices are generally higher than you'll find other places, but they have a lot of early material in stock. I beleive they own the rights to Bill Graham's estate and bought the inventory of someone who had a poster shop in San Francisco (Ben Friedman?). Wolfgang's carries more than just BG/FD items, but those constitute their primary focus. Since they own the rights to Bill Graham's estate, they can and do reprint some of the Fillmore posters. This is a great way for folks to get an "official" copy of cool art, without paying an arm and a leg. These reprints generally sell for very reasonable prices. I don't find these reprints to be "collectable", but sometimes who cares! It beats $5,000-$10,000 for a first print.
Here are some books that I found useful and fun to look at/read. The Bible for Bill Graham, Family Dog and now Vulcan Gas Company posters/handbills/postcards is Eric King's Collector's Guide to Psychedelic Rock Concert Posters... Eric has gone into GREAT detail regarding how to determine which printing a particular piece is. An extra dot may be the difference between a first and second print; and the difference between $125 and $1,500! It's not a book for entertaining reading, but it's invaluable to serious collectors. (Similar information can be found at the three web sites listed above although not in as much detail.) There are some minor differences in opinion between experts on some items. But most of that disagreement seems to have passed and there is general consensus now. (I think only the most anal collector is affected by these discussions, but that's just me.)
A couple of other books that are more fun to read and especially see pictures are The Art of Rock, by Grushkin, ISBN 0-89659-584-6; The Art of the Fillmore, by Lemke, ISBN 1-888358-09-2; and High Art, by Owen, ISBN 1-86074-256-4. The last has a good section on British posters, Martin Sharp, Hapshash, etc. These are all GREAT coffee table books IMHO.
Ok, before this post becomes a book, let's see if anyone else posts to determine if there's any interest in this whole topic. Experinced folks, please help out. New collectors and want-to-be vintage collectors post up your questions and/or concerns. Let's make that five folks 500
