How to Authenticate Beatles Posters
The Beatles were hugely successful during the 1960s, but posters for the band’s concerts are hard to come by. The British band became so successful after its first U.S. tour in 1964 that promoters didn’t need posters to advertise the Fab Four. Concert venues sold out instantly around the globe from 1964 to 1965 during the height of Beatlemania. To authenticate a Beatles poster you will eventually need to consult an expert, but there are a few steps you can take to find out if your poster is the real thing.
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Instructions
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Check the date on the poster for historical accuracy. Make sure there really was a concert or event on the date advertised at the venue specified. Visit the library and scour the Internet to find out everything you can about the concert, the number of tickets sold and whether posters were printed for other dates on that tour.
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Consider the source of your poster and ask the seller where he got it. If you bought the poster at a garage sale from someone who seems honest, there is a chance that it is authentic. Try to verify the seller’s story about how he came into possession of the poster by talking to other people who were on the scene in the 1960s.
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Examine your poster for signs of age. If it is an authentic Beatles poster, chances are it will look and feel old. If it is not torn, rumpled or yellowing, it is probably not 40 to 50 years old.
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Consult a collector or auction house if the poster appears to be authentic. Look in phone directories and trade publications to find auction houses; there are dozens of collectors who advertise on the Internet seeking vintage posters.
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Tips & Warnings
Poster collectors can smell a fake. An older poster should smell slightly musty. Reprints are likely to have a slight inky scent.
Promoters rarely printed posters for Beatles concerts during the years 1964 and 1965 because the concerts sold out as fast as tickets could be printed.
Posters for the Beatles' final live appearance in 1966 at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park are some of the most sought-after music posters because only a limited number were printed.
The cardboard telephone-pole posters for the Beatles’ famous Shea Stadium concert in 1965 are fakes; promoters did not make a poster dedicated to just that show.
Be wary if a seller has posters from several of the most collectible artists – the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis and The Rolling Stones -- for the same year.
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- Photo Credit Krafft Angerer/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
