Final Auction Price
*Final prices include buyers premium
$32,400.00
Starting bid: $1.00
This original first-printing poster is signed in pencil by both artists, Stanley Mouse and the late great Alton Kelley!
Psychedelic Art Exchange is kicking off our March CGC poster auction with an exceptional first printing FD-26, the 1966 Grateful Dead Skull and Roses Avalon Ballroom Poster. This original printing boasts bright, well-saturated inks, perfect registration, and only a few minor flaws in the paper. The poster has been graded 8.0 by CGC, but best of all, this 57-year-old off-set litho advertising poster is signed in pencil by its creators, Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley.
This seminal work is the centerpiece of the San Francisco poster movement and has evolved into a seriously valuable collectible over the years. PAE has auctioned 14 original printings over the years. To see PAE's past sales, click here.
The online collector's price guide at GoCollect reports that 75 total copies have been graded by CGC, of which 55 auction results have been recorded. The graded population is relatively low by CGC comic book standards but is still immensely helpful when determining current market value. As a comparison, CGC has graded 4,833 copies of Amazing Spider-Man #1 with 2,047 verified sales.
The FD-26-OP-1 was the first to break the six-figure sales mark at Heritage Auctions in 2019, and posters later set a high sale mark of $137,500 in 2020. The highest-graded copy ever sold at auction was a CGC 9.9 for $116,000 in 2020.
Condition: single pinhole in each corner, single pinhole top center edge and bottom center edge.
--CRITICAL DETAILS--
--TITLE: FD-26 Poster
--GRADE: 8.0
--PERFORMERS: Grateful Dead, Oxford Circle
--VENUE: Avalon Ballroom
--CITY: San Francisco
--DATE: 09/16/66
--PRINTING: OP-1; Original Pre-Concert First Printing Poster
--SIZE: 14.13 x 20
A 20% Buyers Premium will be added to the final hammer price of this lot.
High resolution HD photos available on request.
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