1966 FD-26 Grateful Dead OP-1 Poster Restored 8 Trimmed

This poster has been professionally restored to offer the appearance and eye appeal of a clean copy! Restoration includes color touch and pieces added. This poster is also slightly trimmed. It measures 14 x 19.75 inches. An untrimmed copy would measure approximately 14.218 x 19.921 inches.

From the Houston Freeburg Collection.

We are once again pleased to present to the collecting community a copy of THE essential concert poster. This is of course Mouse and Kelley's FD-26-OP-1 Skull and Roses Grateful Dead Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco California September 15-16 1966, the Keystone to any serious collection of 1960s concert posters.

There is very little that we can add to the rich backstory of this historic concert poster. Like the culture from which it was born, practically every element of this poster's history is steeped in serendipity and LSD. Most notably, the secretly appropriated artwork chosen for this poster will forever be associated with the birth of a rag-tag collection of Bay Area musicians who formed a rowdy, raunchy psychedelic blues band in 1965. A band that would evolve to the status of a cultural phenomenon. A band that would carry the ethos of the 1960s counterculture to future generations. The Grateful Dead were clearly the stewards of the 1960s Haight Ashbury phenomenon. The seeds they helped plant in 1965 San Francisco are still bearing fruit today in our culture and society.

This poster has been professionally restored and thus is placed in a "restored" CGC holder. Due to historically high hammer prices in regards to this poster, many collectors who have held onto their copies of the FD-26 for decades are coming out of the woodwork and having their posters graded and placed in auctions. Most of these collectors have had these posters in their possession since long before they knew they held value. Thus, it isn't uncommon to find examples of the FD-26 that have been slightly trimmed by hand like this one and subsequently restored to offer greater eye appeal. Higher prices for restored examples of this historic piece are coming to fruition. In March 2019, we sold a 7.5 graded restored FD-26 for $6,000.

This example here is also very unique due to the red color being printed slightly off-register. This is not entirely uncommon for some early FD posters (like the famous FD-13 Red Bull), as many were printed in a hurry, however, we have not come across many FD-26 posters with this unique trait.

Serious poster collectors, regardless of their musical taste, understand this is a must-have item. The artwork alone is immediately recognizable and will endure the test of time. The trajectory of past auction sales of this poster clearly illustrates its potential. When PAE was founded in 2007, strong copies of the FD-26 could be bought for under $10,000. Psychedelic Art Exchange sold the first copy to break the $50,000 mark at auction in 2018. Following that sale, Heritage auctions broke the $100,000 mark for a 9.8 in their auction. In a market that is still considered niche, this is the poster that has paved the way to respectable value. With nearly daily headlines reporting record-setting values in collectibles across the board, the future is bright for our humble concert posters.

--CRITICAL DETAILS--
--TITLE: Fd-26 Restored
--GRADE: 8
--PERFORMERS: Grateful Dead
--VENUE: Avalon
--CITY: San Francisco
--DATE: 09/16/66
--PRINTING: OP-1; Poster
--CGC SERIAL: 2510804003