NEW YORK – Dozens of original rock ’n’ roll concert posters from the Psychedelic ’60s are available in a Jasper52 online auction taking place Wednesday, July 18. Famous rock stars in the show include the Who, Cream and Fleetwood Mac along with San Francisco “Summer of Love” favorites like the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service. Absentee and Internet live bidding is available through LiveAuctioneers.
The British supergroup Cream – composed of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker – played an extended two-week gig at The Fillmore and Winterland, and this poster advertised the second week of that show in March 1967. Artist Stanley Mouse, born Stanley George Miller, designed this poster, which is from the original first printing. This scarce poster, which pictures the faces of the trio, is expected to sell for $250-$500.
One of Stanley Mouse’s most famous works is his poster of a skeleton bedecked in roses, which promoted the Grateful Dead’s engagement at the Avalon Ballroom in September 1966. It’s also the most recognized image ever used by the Grateful Dead. The central image is a drawing by Edward Joseph Sullivan, an early 20th-century artist who created the drawing to illustrate one of the quatrains of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyám. The poster has been printed multiple times and bootlegged in several versions. This piece is from the authorized third printing (est. $500-$1,000.)
Another Stanley Mouse design is known as the FD-28 Zebraman, which was based on a photograph that originally appeared on a Life magazine cover. It was created with technology used by the military to make facial contours for flight helmets. The dramatic poster promoted a concert by San Francisco’s Quick Silver Messenger Service at the Avalon Ballroom in the fall of 1966.
The Grande Ballroom is Detroit’s rock ’n’ roll palace. Designed by Detroit engineer and architect Charles N. Agree in 1928, the building on Grand River Avenue housed retail business on the first floor and a large dance hall upstairs. Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, Jeff Beck, Procol Harum, Cream and The Who all performed there. While the bands listed on the scarce March 1967 poster (below) never released a platinum record, artist David Carlin’s image of an Art Deco nymph is a chartbuster.
Not so much with the David Singer BG-185 Fleetwood Mac poster from 1969. The band has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, yet this original poster has an easy $75-$150 estimate.
Gary Grimshaw, a graphic artist who was born and worked in Detroit as well as San Francisco, created this postcard for The Who’s concert in Toronto in 1968. Long considered to be the rarest Russ Gibb Presents card, this is usually included in the Grande series by serious collectors. Like the cards for the Russ Gibb/Toronto show that featured Jimi Hendrix, these cards are rare and seldom offered (est. $500-$1,000).
More than a dozen lots of vintage rock concert tickets will also be included in this online auction.
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