Published by Pavilion Books, UK, Autumn 2003/Billboard Books, USA, 2nd February 2004
Format: Hardback book, 192 full-colour pages, full-colour cover.
Available to order through these links: US/International, or UK/elsewhere, or France, or Germany
Described as "an authoritative
guide to one of the fastest growing collector's markets of the 21st
Century", the book is written by two experts in the field, with
significant experience in valuing and selling rock and pop items for
Christie's London office. Peter Doggett is also well known for his
contributions in such publications as Record Collector Magazine.
The book takes an in-depth look
at a broad range - autographs and manuscripts, rare recordings, guitars
and other instruments, costumes and personal effects, posters, printed
materials, merchandising, memorabilia, awards, and artwork, amongst
other things. And naturally, includes some Floyd items amongst the
other fascinating things in the book!
First off, you are struck by the
quality of the book. Well presented and shot pictures accompany the
illuminating (and crisp) text, which gives a feel of being given a tour
around Christies with a truly authoritative and honest guide.
Throughout each clearly defined
section, full historical context is given to the area under discussion,
and the importance and significance of items is covered. Surprisingly,
the text is candid over what, too, is NOT worth much, and why certain
items may not appear at auction - either due to issues of legality and
ownership, or due to being extremely specialised items, of interest
only to very select groups of collectors.
With the introduction comes the
first tasty piece of Floyd related memorabilia - a superb Winter Tour
1967 Hendrix/Move/Floyd/Amen Corner poster signed by Jimi! This is an
item that so rarely appears, even in an unsigned state, and the picture
shows it completely unblemished, too!
Whilst Hendrix appears fairly
often, the lion's share of coverage seems to be The Rolling Stones.
Fans of Mick's gang will find plenty to interest them, as will Dylan
fans; it is clear that a core of artists command the most interest (and
best prices) at auction. The Beatles figure surprisingly
infrequently... possibly due to the lack of unusual, one-off items
coming on to the market. Thanks to intelligent decisions made during
the editing process, even those indifferent to some of the artists
featured will find the items displayed and discussed of interest.
Personal correspondence here (in Chapter 1) is particularly absorbing,
and provides insights into the development and history of key bands
from the 60s.
The second chapter covers
recordings. The authors discount the value of most items on vinyl and
CD due to the mass production of most titles, or, as mentioned before,
the narrow range of interest in some cases. Certain exceptions prove
the rule, of course, such as The Beatles "Yesterday And Today"
'butcher' cover, which commands high asking prices even if covered with
the sanitising sticker! The more interesting part of this segment
covers tapes and demos which appear with rare recordings on them - and
these are fraught with issues of ownership and provenance, as explained
in depth.
Chapter 3 covers guitars and
other musical instruments, including Eric Clapton's sale of over 100
guitars for the Crossroads Centre for drug rehabilitation. Guitar
specialists and collectors will love the detail in this chapter,
covering the minutae of items sold at various auctions over the years.
The more casual reader may find this chapter heavy going with dates and
serial numbers of seemingly similar guitars being discussed.
Next up, costumes and personal
effects. Madonna, with her elaborate stage shows featuring many changes
of clothing, has naturally been responsible for many items that have
appeared at auction. Elton John, Elvis and David Bowie also figure
heavily in this part, with some nice illustrations of the costumes.
The fifth chapter covers posters
- in particular, the many fine examples of the psychedelic 60s finest
artists, and displays posters for a number of key events and artist.
There are some lovely festival and multi-artist sheets here, including
the UFO club, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and the highly collectable "14
Hour Technicolor Dream" concert poster, which included Pink Floyd
playing as dawn broke.
As is seen here, the Sex Pistols
are one of the few post-60s artists to have really collectable posters
which feature at auction.
The book then moves on to printed
artifacts. The majority of items here are such things as concert
programmes and tickets, along with a handful of publications such as
OZ, The International Times, and Ink. The chapter ends with a special
section on backstage passes, and has a nice full page shot of a signed
Division Bell 1994 tour programme surrounded by VIP passes from various
nights of that tour.
This leads nicely on to
merchandising. Here, the rise of The Beatles is shown in parallel to
the relentless tide of "fab four"-related merchandise - official AND
unofficial. The text reinforces the point of keeping packaging intact -
so if you've bought a set of The Wall figures issued last year, keep
that box safe! This section also covers such items as record company
promotional items. Whilst the book doesn't mention them, Pink Floyd's
releases have resulted in many interesting promo items - most of which
are variations on pyramid or pig themes.
Chapter 8 covers awards - be they
record company presentation discs, Oscars, Grammys, or other trophies.
There's some interesting text on record company awards in particular,
and what you should be wary of. Mention is made, too, of when The
Beatles took apart a gold disc award to check the music on the platter
- and found that it was an album by their rivals at the time, The
Rolling Stones! The book illustrates some nice examples of these discs
- the eight-platinum award for Travis's "The Man Who" is especially
striking.
The final chapter covers artwork.
Via a couple of Andy Warhol prints (Jagger and Velvet Underground), a
Stuart Sutcliffe canvas, and Ronnie Wood in action with a canvas, we
get coverage of The Wall animation art auction (with a nice shot of the
marching hammers, too).
To end the book is a very useful
and informative look at what they call "Collectors' Information". It
sets out clearly what to look out for, and what to beware of if you've
got your eye on something special. Coupled with a full glossary of
terms used, its really all you need to know to get started on REAL
collecting properly and fairly safely. Finally, there's a look at
various items in the form of top ten lists - ranking items based on the
amount they sold for at auction. There's some mind-boggling sums that
have been paid for things over the years. Unfortunately, the stories
behind these items aren't told - I was at the auction when Hendrix's
guitar was sold to an Italian collector bidding by phone, for £198,000
(including auction fees). The story just after the auction was that the
collector made an error converting between pounds sterling and Italian
lire - and thought he'd paid £19,800! A lesson here to be careful at
auction...!
Definately a book any music fan
will find fascinating, and a pleasure to look at, and may even provide
some food for thought. Will YOU be checking out those things hidden in
the depths of your collection, armed with the information from this
book?
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