Rock 'n Pop Music Memorabilia Auction Highlights

By Patrick Prince - Editor of Goldmine Magazine

In April, Backstage Auctions presents its annual Rock & Pop Auction packed with many irresistible items for collectors. Make sure you mark your calendar for April 23 to May 1, 2016.

Backstage Auctions owner Jacques van Gool was on hand to explain to Goldmine the significance of this upcoming music auction.

GOLDMINE: Tell us about the highlights of the Rock & Pop auction.

JACQUES VAN GOOL: The auction as a whole is one big, glorious fest of collectibles! We are still processing collections but in the end I anticipate that we will have in the vicinity of 1,000 auction lots. As an auctioneer it’s always hard to point at your favorite child. There are obvious highlights, such as the Beatles’ album-used Vox organ or Johnny Cash’s album-used recorder. At the same time, one might find Paul Stanley’s stage-worn boots or an interview cassette with Glenn Frey the highlight of the auction. For me, I just look at the event in its entirety, and what I see is a spectacular celebration of Rock & Pop memorabilia.

GM: Many of our readers will be interested right away in The Beatles collection in this auction. Please detail it for us.

JVG: Indeed, it is a remarkable collection, coming from the estate of a former Florida-based DJ. Safe to say that this individual had a legitimate man-crush on The Beatles, as the collection alone consists of nearly 1,000 individual pieces, ranging from massive amounts of books, magazines, CDs, DVDs and current-day merchandise all the way to an impressive collection of 1960s memorabilia, vinyl and reels. Among the eye-poppers are a Beatles turntable, rare Vee-Jay records, a Butcher cover and a fantastic collection of Bag One artwork, including two original portfolios, five John Lennon signed lithographs, 1970 exhibition programs and many other official prints. 

John Lennon Bag One

GM: You mentioned that a Johnny Cash recorder.

JVG: That’s a good one, too! In the late 1960s, Johnny Cash bought an Ampex MM-1000 recorder for the recording of several of his albums. In the mid-1970s, Johnny then sold the recorder to the SmithLee Recording Studio in St. Louis, who subsequently sold it to a Kansas-based recording studio owner. It’s been in Kansas ever since. Not only does this 2-inch recorder (the “Rolls-Royce” of its time) come with the original paperwork from Johnny Cash, but the Kansas studio owner wrote Johnny and received a letter back confirming that, indeed, this was the recorder he used for a number of his own albums. Not only are working 2-inch recorders hard to find for those who want or need one, but to potentially own one with this level of music history is an exceptional opportunity. Heads-up though; this is a 700-pound behemoth, so proper space and reinforced floorboards are required.

Rare Pressing of David Bowie's "Heroes" Album 

GM: You also have Bowie memorabilia up for auction. Does a rock star’s death make memorabilia more sought after? Is that merely a mainstream assumption? Or does it depend?

JVG: Good question and I think it’s a little bit of everything you mentioned. Sure, there’s always the immediate wave of demand and with Bowie that was no exception. But in general, it’s just a small spike on the longevity chart of an artist’s overall degree of collectability. Bowie was already collectible and will remain collectible long after his death. The prices are a little higher now than usual and with time, let’s say a year or so from now, it’ll swing back to where it was. And yes, we do have some cool Bowie collectibles. The one piece that deserves upfront mention is that we have literally the only one existing multi-color vinyl pressing of “Heroes”, coming directly from the L.A.-based pressing plant that was commissioned by RCA Records at the time. 

KISS Paul Stanley Used Boots

GM: Is there a favorite lot that you are personally excited about?

JVG: Oh man, where do I begin? Maybe I stay close to home. It’s no secret that KISS was the band that made me a collector back in 1975, so I’ve always been partial to KISS collectibles. We’ve got some great stuff this time around, including record awards, vintage 1970s shirts, passes and cards, autographed items and so on. There’s even the original light board controller used to light up the massive KISS logo on the 1979 Dynasty tour. But of all pieces, it has to be the pair of Paul Stanley tour used boots. There’s just something magical about these crazy platform boots.

GM: Anything else you’d like to add about this upcoming auction? 

JVG: Yes, there are a couple things I would like to add. One is an amazing collection of Bruce Springsteen memorabilia that includes signed items, rare promotional material, vinyl, concert CDs, record awards, jackets, you name it. There is even of rare college magazine from the 1960s that published Bruce’s first poems. Bruce Springsteen collectors will be thrilled and impressed with the depth and width of everything.

Another fantastic collection features original Fillmore East negatives, mostly from the late 1960s. There are all the usual suspects, but I’m partial to the set of “The Wind in the Willows” negatives from 1967, featuring none other than Deborah Harry.

And speaking of 1967, remember the band The One Percent? Probably not, but it eventually morphed into Lynyrd Skynyrd and we will feature the original management contract for this band containing the signatures of the likes of Ronnie Van Zant and Gary Rossington ... and their parents! None of the band members was old enough to enter into a legal contract, hence all the parents’ signatures.

Fleetwood Mac Fully Signed Set List

We have a fantastic collection of original interview cassettes that comes from the private collection of a Japanese journalist who interviewed American and British rock stars for a host of Japanese magazines. These are intimate recordings with the very first lineup of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and an hour-long discussion at the Aspen home of Glenn Frey — great stuff.

I can go on and on. There are hundreds of fantastic concert shirts, tour itineraries, backstage passes and tickets, collectible vinyl, Alice Cooper-used stage and album props, more autographed items than one could hang on a wall and an equal number of impressive record awards. There are posters, promotional jackets, and just about everything else. 

This is hands down one of the most comprehensive Rock & Pop auctions we have ever done and we couldn’t be more proud. Come to our site when the auction preview goes live and feast your eyes on all this amazing music memorabilia and history.

A PREVIEW of the Rock & Pop Auction will be live on April 16, until its official opening. 

The auction will be open for bidding from April 23 to May 1. For more information, or to bid, visit:  www.backstageauctions.com. 

 — Patrick Prince - Editor / Goldmine Magazine 

Reposted from Goldmine with permission. All Images are property of Backstage Auctions. 

Collectors still feel plenty of love for Elvis memorabilia

It’s good to be The King — or at the very least, to collect him.

The prices that Elvis’ fans are happy to pay for his albums, posters and memorabilia show he’s still alive and well in the collectors’ market.

“There’s sort of an expiration date on artists, and I think artists that, let’s say, have their peaks back in the ’50s and ’60s, for them to still be collectible and highly collectible to date is really unusual,” said Jacques van Gool of Backstage Auctions.

Elvis collectibles stacks up extremely well with the likes of The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, The Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd and others, which is impressive when you consider that his roots go back a solid 10 to 15 years before those other artists made it on the scene, van Gool said.

The Beatles probably do outrank Elvis in overall collectibility, largely because The Beatles are a global phenomenon among collectors, while most Elvis collectors are here in the U.S., he said. That said, Elvis is no shrinking violet, particularly when it comes to personally owned pieces, such as one of Elvis’ cars, jumpsuits or autographed pieces.

“You’ll see some mind-blowing numbers when it comes to Elvis, the same types of numbers you’d see for the The Beatles,” van Gool said.

There hasn’t been a lot of change in the Elvis market in the last 10 to 20 years, he said, and the market for Elvis-related collectibles remains strong and steady.

“The fact that they’re still, every year, coming out with new merchandise is a very healthy sign that the market is there,” van Gool said. Toys, calendars, T-shirts, vinyl records, movie posters, books, commemorative plates, DVDs … the list of Elvis-related collectibles is almost endless.

“I know that Graceland draws a lot of people every year, and just about everyone will walk out of there buying something,” van Gool said. “I truly believe that collectors are born in the gift shop. Graceland is very important.”

If you’re wondering where to get the most bang for your Elvis buck, look toward the elite items, where demand far outstrips supply, such as Elvis’ autograph, a piece of his jewelry or clothing, or any of the first five Sun Records singles, van Gool said. Items from the 1950s command the best prices, followed by those from the 1960s and 1970s, he added. Just be careful to choose authenticated items, as everything from Elvis’ jumpsuits his signature have been replicated.

If you’re just getting started collecting Elvis memorabilia, the options for collecting can be overwhelming, as Elvis had so many different eras in his career. The rule of thumb is that items from the 1950s are the most expensive, followed by those from the 1960s and 1970s.

“With Elvis, if you want to start working your ways backwards, start with everything from 1977. When he passed away, there must’ve been 50 different magazine specials and 100 newspapers that wrote about him, and commemorative coins and commemorative everything. That can be a great point to start,” he said. From there, you might want to look at old tour programs or Vegas pieces.

Whatever route, van Gool recommends following a basic rule of thumb.

“I would rather spend $10 on something that’s 30 years old than spend $10 on something that was released yesterday,” van Gool said. “Everything that was released today comes out at a premium, and for the next 10 years, the price will drop.”

By Susan Sliwicki

http://www.goldminemag.com/collector-resources/collectors-still-feel-plenty-of-love-for-elvis-memorabilia

Backstage Auctions Elvis Memorabilia: New Store Items

Memorabilia market makes room for Punk collectibles

When staunchly classic auction houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s host sales related to a popular culture era, you know the market is on to something.

Of course, when that something is punk rock, more than a few traditionalists were scratching their heads. But with a handsome sale result of $747,300, the Christie’s Punk/Rock sale in late 2008 confirmed what rock and roll memorabilia collectors and auction houses like Backstage Auctions already knew: Punk is hot.

“Punk, at the time, was not a musical genre that was meant to be collected,” said Jacques van Gool of Backstage Auctions. “Punk was an expression, and punk was a statement, and punk was something you lived. Punk wasn’t something you put in a plastic sleeve and put in a display case.”
Collectors today want to do just that, and they are willing to pay handsomely for the privilege. But finding a mint-condition punk collectible is a bit like finding a needle-toting unicorn in a haystack.

“Punk collectibles were not necessarily handled with care, so to find anything for that matter that is still in pristine condition is an exception, rather than the rule,” van Gool said. “If you had a punk T-shirt, the first thing you would do is rip holes in it. If you had a punk poster, the first thing you’d do is tape it on your wall and put stickers on it and write on it.”

But the other reason it’s tough to find top-shelf, mint-condition punk collectibles comes back the golden law of economics: supply and demand.

“I think what makes a mint punk collectible so rare is it wasn’t meant to be kept, and because there was a very small quantity, the survival rate is low,” van Gool said. “We can all ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ about the first Beatles album on Capitol Records from 1964, which is still worth a lot of money in mint condition, but what people forget is there were hundreds of thousands of copies. When you’re looking for a punk single, you’re lucky if they pressed 200 or 1,000 copies.”

Our Market Watch feature has hosted a variety of hot-selling punk records in recent months.

As for punk memorabilia, there’s one thing that van Gool will always associate with the punk movement.

“When I think of punk, I think of buttons,” van Gool said. “You couldn’t walk the street and see a punk rocker without 20 or 30 buttons.”

In the eBay collectible world, punk buttons are an easy buy — not to mention a great choice for collectors who may be strapped for storage space, or even funds.

A single Clash pinback recently sold for $52, but that kind of premium tends to be the exception rather than the rule in online auctions.

By comparison: A collection of 100 metal, punk, hardcore and ska buttons and badges sold for $16.99; a group of The Cramps’ pins sold for $11; and a group of Iggy Pop and The Stooges pins sold for $8. Collections featuring Screeching Weasel plus Sloppy Seconds, The Ramones, Sex Pistols, Joe Strummer and NOFX each sold for about $6.

Another hot collectible these days? Vintage T-shirts. “That entirely has to do with the fact that 5, 6 years ago, vintage concert T-shirts became fashionable, so they were all of a sudden in style, and it was cool to be seen with a 1976 Peter Frampton T-shirt or a 1974 Blue Oyster Cult T-shirt,” van Gool said.

A collection of vintage T-shirts that featured a 1984 The Clash “Out of Control” shirt, as well as shirts from Scorpions, Billy Squier, ZZ Top and Quiet Riot, recently sold for $225 online.

-Susan Sliwicki - Goldmine Magazine

http://www.goldminemag.com/collector-resources/memorabilia-market-makes-room-for-punk-collectibles

The ’80s poised to be the next ‘big thing’ in Music Memorabilia

Every collector dreams of owning a top-shelf, holy grail item. But how do you ensure you’ll have spot at the head of the collecting class someday? Well, it’s kind of like a 401(K) plan. There’s a lot of saving and planning, some discipline, and quite a wait for payoff.

“If you buy to collect, then the golden rule still is to keep whatever you have sealed, whether you buy an album or a CD or toy or anything,” said Jacques van Gool of Backstage Auctions. “Don’t be tempted to open it or listen to it. The moment you do, the item will lose value.”

Oh, sure, the item may still be in pristine condition. But breaking that protective seal is a lot like driving a brand-new car off the dealer’s lot: The depreciation starts the minute you do.

If you have any open or unsealed items, be sure to invest in good storage materials and bag them up now, because at the end of the day, the value of the collectible is driven by its condition. If you have vinyl, be sure to store it with a backing board, so the corners won’t bend.

For those of us who have limited impulse control, consider buying today’s “limited-edition” collectibles in duplicates — one to enjoy, and one to save for the future as a true collectible.

Just don’t expect to see a massive return on your investment overnight, van Gool warns. You need to be patient enough to keep the piece long enough so it can grow in value.

“Everything in music collectibles are like wine. There’s an incubation period, and they need to ripen and they need to season,” van Gool said. “If you buy something now and try to sell it or trade it in the first 10 years, the chances are the piece you bought is at the same value, or it might have lost a little bit of value,” he said. “That’s not different than the bundles of money we pay today for items from the 1960s and the 1970s. Back in the ’60s and ’70s, they were worth nothing.”

So, what are the items you should be saving today for your collecting investment tomorrow? Keep in mind that there is no such thing as a “foolproof” investment. That said, for the most part, everything that was collectible — records, posters, signed memorabilia —is still collectible, van Gool says. But a few specific areas have enjoyed a bit of a growth spurt in recent years.

“One type of item that has become increasingly popular over the past five years are vintage T-shirts, and that entirely has to do with the fact that five, six years ago, vintage concert T-shirts became fashionable, so they were, all of a sudden, in style, and it was cool to be seen in style with a 1976 Peter Frampton T-shirt or a 1974 Blue Oyster Cult T-shirt,” van Gool said.

Vinyl is also enjoying a bit of a rebirth. “There’s more new vinyl that’s being sold,” van Gool said. “When you see large retailers such as Best Buy jump on the bandwagon to start selling vinyl again, that’s a good sign.”

And it’s not just Baby Boomers buying back their old albums.“It’s people in their 20s and 30s, who did not grow up with a record player who are now discovering the wonderful world of vinyl,” he said.

When it comes to a certain “genres” that are on the rise, new wave, post punk and metal all land on van Gool’s list.

“If there’s a category lately that is really jumping and more and more demanding high prices, it is the ’80s hard-rock, heavy metal, whether it’s Iron Maiden or Judas Priest or Metallica or Def Leppard or Saxon,” van Gool said.

When Backstage Auctions conducted a Motley Crue auction a few years ago, it was kind of a gamble for the auction house, van Gool said. “It ended up being our first completely, 100-percent-sold-out auction. It was an over-the-top auction.” The event was such a success that Backstage is planning another auction around hard-rock/heavy-metal items.

“I think this current decade, meaning 2010 through 2020, is probably the decade where you might start to see the popularity decline of a lot of 1970s bands,” van Gool said. “I think that is going to be replaced by the Madonnas and the U2s and the Princes of the world. They are already collectible. But I think they will become serious collectibles to the tune of where you see auction houses really honing in on what I call the late ’70s and 1980s pop and rock artists,” van Gool said.

Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Boy George … they’re all heading for their day in the collectible sun, he predicted,

“Whatever you fell in love with as a teenager and as a high school student and college student … once you’re in a job and made a career and bought a house and have a couple of cars, you’re at a point where you start looking back and becoming sentimental, and you start to associate a lot of happy moments of those years with the music you listened to,” van Gool said. “You want to reconnect with that time in your life; you want to own something, whether it’s as simple as a poster or T-shirt or album, or something really big.”

-Susan Sliwicki, Goldmine Magazine
http://www.goldminemag.com/collector-resources/80s-poised-to-be-next-big-thing-in-music-memorabilia

-Backstage Auctions Rock Gods 'n Metal Monsters Auction - coming this fall. For more information visit our website for auction details.