Final Auction Price
*Final prices include buyers premium
$13,226.00
Starting bid: $1.00
Here we go! The finest quality (by a mile) CGC graded example to ever appear at public auction of one of the most popular psychedelic Grateful Dead posters of all time!
This trippy “Acid Drop” imagery was created by Steve Catron for a series of concerts by the Grateful Dead and Chuck Berry at the Carousel Ballroom.
The very large size easily led to fast and easy damage.
The incredible design led to mostly all of these posters having been "put up" back in the day.
That's why a huge percentage of the few posters that surface in the marketplace have been restored to rectify these situations.
This example is 100% Original with no restoration whatsoever and is equal in quality to any example we have seen in the past 25 years.
As such it must be included in any Finest Known Census.
We believe this lot is severely undergraded due to the prescence of a "roller mark" that appears on one each side margin 8 inches up from the bottom as a result of the printing process.
Other than this minor blemish this poster is absolutely pristine and virtually unimprovable.
The whites are blinding white the colors are deep and dark and the paper is fresh and crisp.
Obviousy there are no nicks cuts tears or pinholes.
We believe a CGC grade of 9.4 or 9.6 is well within reason based on the thousands of CGC graded posters we have previously sold.
But our policy is to stay our of the grading business as much as possible.
Thus the lucky collector that wins this lot will be receiving FAR MORE than they bargained for and in our view that's all for the better.
Our focus is to provide the safest and and most secure platform to buy and sell vintage concert posters and every day collectors around the world tell us they appreciate our approach.
An interesting characteristic of this issue is that it is 100% reliable in "bringing all the money".
That's because the massive worldwide collector demand easily exceeds the tiny available supply.
Subtract out the aforementioned large percentage of restored copies and collectors are forced to fight over whatever original pieces are discovered.
The "basal value" of ANY Grateful Dead/ Chuck Berry Acid Dropper in ANY condition appears to be right around $5 000.
That's the minimum of what restored copies are worth (restored copies have commanded over $8 000) and we previously sold a heavily damaged copy graded 5.0 by CGC the only other CGC graded example to EVER appear on the marketplace for $4899 earlier this year. Two years ago a Near Mint example that was NOT CGC graded and NOT third party authenticated for Originality realized $10 375.
In any other collectible field that would make this Finest Known Condition Census GEM worth well north of $50 000. The marketplace has clearly not reached these types of premiums for high grade material yet and heerin lies the opportunity everyone is so excited about!
One other interesting market development regarding this World Famous concert poster. Traditionally this has always been understood by collectors as a "Grateful Dead Poster". Lately we have recevied many requests for this poster from Chuck Berry collectors. We have reported ad nauseum in our blog posts that ANYTHING regarding Chuck Berry has been RED HOT ever since his recent passing. So not only is this poster ultra rare and universally recognized as one of the Top 10 coolest concert posters ever created it also features TWO legendary acts enjoying the ultimate in worldwide demand. Somehow some way a concert poster that has ALWAYS been recognized as one of the greatest of all time has found a way to become even more desirable!
Estimate:$10 000-$20 000+
Poster – Grateful Dead at Carousel Ballroom
Subtitle – Acid Drop
Grade – CGC 9.2
Bands/Bill – Grateful Dead Chuck Berry Curly Cook’s Hurdy Gurdy Band
Venue – Carousel Ballroom
City – San Francisco CA
Date – 3/29-31/1968
Dimensions – 15 30/32” x 22 1/4”
Printing – OP-1 Original Pre-Concert First Printing
AOR #2.163
Artist – Steven Catron
Condition Details – Superb Museum Quality. Super conservatively graded. The finest we have ever seen handled or heard about. Super clean with no nicks cuts tears or restoration. Barely noticeable very light grey "roller marks" from printer on each border 1 inch from bottom. Wisp of handling bottom left corner hints of light light toning top corners attest to it's unrestored status. We have seen many posters graded 9.6 by CGC that are equal in quality to this GEM.
View the detailed high res photo of this lot. Click on the thumbnail photo to see an enlarged photo. Click a second time on the magnifying glass in the upper right corner of the enlarged photo. A super high res image with every millimeter will now be clearly displayed. For a personalized eyewitness examination call 410-464-6180 11:00 am to 6:00pm eastern.
*****This poster is available for inspection at our gallery by appointment. *****
"