The “ultimate” Rolling Stones collectible. What would it be?

If you could own anything, the ultimate Rolling Stones piece of memorabilia, what would it be?
For most, maybe they would say they couldn’t imagine.

A Jagger sparkle jumpsuit?
The Omega shirt from the 69 tour?
His Uncle Same hat?
Keith’s “Little Queenie” guitar owned by the Hard Rock.
His Micawber maybe?

For me, here are 3.

One is currently for sale through Gotta Have It.
The second was up for auction and never sold.
The third recently sold unfortunately not to me, in the $15,000 range.

This is the original Rolling Stones “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” 45 single gold record award that was presented to Mick Jagger to commemorate the sale of more than one million copies of the pop single record that was released by London Records. This extraordinary award is a completely unique, original gold record that was presented directly to the artist, and there is not another one exactly like it in existence. The award is presented in its original frame with original backing. It is very rare to find a prestigious gold record award such as this in its 100 percent original condition. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, “Satisfaction” is perhaps the most famous song from The Rolling Stones. The song was first released as a single in the United States in May 1965, and the smash hit became the group’s first number one song in America.

Price $29,000.

http://www.gottahaveit.com/ItemDetail.aspx?itemid=9578

This is a complete set of liner notes written by Jagger for the landmark “Let It Bleed” album.
Amazing.

The Rolling Stones autographs. The “real deals” are there, you just have to do your homework.

Probably the one question I’m asked constantly by those who know I collect or have seen my collection is, “How do you know it’s real?”
My answer is usually, “I just know.”
As easy as that sounds, it’s not that easy.
But with a little work you will know, and you can protect yourself and your collection.

Start with the simple notion that 95% of autographs sold on eBay and through memorabilia sites are fakes.
Yup, 95%.
Why is that?
Easy.
These alleged reputable dealers are looking for people who don’t know what they’re are looking at.
People that want to believe at that price, it’s too good to be true.
Want to believe that the dealer is reputable.
And to borrow a quote, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

Check out this link to find out who really said this.

http://www.historybuff.com/library/refbarnum.html

So how do you know if a set of signatures you’re buying is fake?
If there’s a certificate of authenticity offered, it’s fake.

Any a-hole can print up a impressive looking “certificate”, sign it, offer a lifetime guarantee, and sell pretty much anything.
People think this is their protection.
Sorry, it don’t mean shit.
You need to know your stuff. Buy from the right people. Get knowledgeable.
Read up.
Study.
It’s work.
But like anything else, you want to make good decisions, you do your homework.
I own many signed Stones items.
Frankly it’s easier to buy a legit set of vintage autographs from the Brian Jones era, than a set from today.

Begin at the beginning.
Familiarize yourself with the earliest signatures of the band.
What did they sign like in the 60′s say. Gather images you find online and through eBay and compare them.
Try to think of the circumstances in which they might have signed these items, how much time they had, what they were signing. A card, paper, magazine.
All bands in the 60′s signed in ballpoint pen.
There were no sharpies.
Study how their styles changed throughout the years.
Usually over the years, not unlike us all, our signatures deteriorate and get sloppy.
We get lazy.
No different for rock stars.
Look at Charlie Watts today, barely understandable or readable.
A large C and B.
Stands for “Charlie Boy”, the way he used to originally sign his name back in the 60′s.
A signature reduced to letters.

I found on eBay a year or so ago a signed album.
It was a “Get your Ya Ya’s Out,” signed by all the original Stones, including Brian Jones.
The album as recorded in 1969 and released in September of 1970.
See where I’m going with this?
How could this be signed by Brian Jones if he died in July of 69 and the album was released in 1970?
This is the kind of crap that goes on all the time.

Of course it came with a certificate of authenticity.

Buy from reputable dealers. If you do your homework and ask around you can find them.
I buy from Recordmecca in LA, and Tracks in the UK.
These guys know their shit.
They give a lifetime guarantee and it means something.

Some examples I own are shown here. Bought from the dealers listed above.

Beautiful exmaple from Recordmecca

You’re no rock star, until they make you into a doll.

Too be immortalized in plastic with fake hair and a tiny replica guitar.
Isn’t that what every rock star dreams about?
To be cuddled by their fans in bed every night?
Seems like you don’t even have to be inducted into the Rock and roll Hall of Fame to have a miniature figure in a blister pack hanging in a hobby store these days.
Check out the McFarlane Toy line and others.
Joey Ramone, Sid Vicious, Jim Morrison, Jimi, Janis, you name it, there are figures galore.
They are truly amazing works of art.
Impeccable likenesses.
Detailed and adorned with love beads, guitar straps, amp cords and microphones so real looking you think you could sing into them.
Back in the day, like say the 60′s, well you were lucky if you could tell Paul from Ringo.
Well, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch.

Here’s a few pics of dolls from the 60′s unlicensed that are supposed to be the Stones. They were marketed under the “Play-Pal” name and have no markings relative to any of the Stones.

What do you think?

Charlie Watts?

Keith Richards???

Brian Jones?

Way before Guitar Hero, real plastic guitars.

Manufactured by a company called Selcol back in 64-65, The Rolling Stones entree to merchandising.

Years before the Guitar Hero craze kids actually played sort of real guitars to emulate their Guitar Heroes like Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison.

Manufacturers like Selcol Industries of England made plastic guitars in all shapes and sizes for fans emblazoned with facsimile autographs and pictures of The Stones and The Beatles on them.

Back in the 60′s these would sell for under $10.

Today the Stones guitar is worth in the area of $2000-2500 depending on condition.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Researching your collectibles online. Sometimes you get really, really, lucky.

Art Collins Exec. VP of Rolling Stones records waiting patiently for his album just signed by Mick and Andy.

So you buy an autographed Rolling Stones album from one of the most reputable dealers in the country, Jeff Gold of Recordmecca.
He gives you his lifetime letter of guarantee plus a letter from the original owner of the album the former Exec. VP of Rolling Stones records Art Collins, a close personal friend of his.

The album was signed personally by the band and Andy Warhol for Art at the Rolling Stones private party at Trax nightclub in NYC, which he attended to celebrate their release of “Love you Live” in 1977.
Andy Warhol who was a guest of the Stones, designed the artwork for the cover as well as all the promotional materials.

Not too shabby heh?
You really don’t need much more documentation to prove this is the real deal now do you?
I didn’t.

But then again, I’m always looking for more.

Just for yucks, since this was a well photographed and documented event, I went digging online to see if I could find any more pics.
I would regularly search on ebay and online under Warhol/Jagger Love You Live, etc.

One day during another random search something came up.
At first, I thought look cool a photo of Mick and Andy and Mick’s holding the album.

Hey, it looks like it’s a signed album.
And it looks like it’s signed where my album is signed.
Wait, isn’t that Art Collins behind them with his hand on his vest?
Holy crap the signatures match!
That’s my album!!!

I actually found THE photo of Mick and Andy holding MY album with Art Collins standing in the background waiting for Mick to give the album back to him after he was photographed holding it.

What are the odds?

The dealer I bought the album from to this day can’t believe it.
And when I think about it, neither can I.

The good news, it’s out there.
All the information you need.
Pages and pages of reference.
Hundreds of thousands of photos.

It just takes time and a willingness to dig, just a little deeper.

And a little luck.

Art Collins leaning over talking to Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards. Ronnie is holding the signed album for Art.

Keith Richards’ Bobby Lee Guitar Strap. Well loved. Well used. And seen everywhere in 1975.

The rare Keith Richards guitar strap pictured here I shouldn’t own.

But I do.

The story of how I came upon the holy grail of Keith items might be better than the piece itself.

Not really, but pretty interesting nonetheless.

It’s a story of how doing your homework, saving information, and going with your gut will sometimes, not always, reward you with some amazing finds.

This guitar strap was listed on ebay with a pile of other paper items, some photos and some other odds and ends back in September of 2005.

I watched for days as the collection got little to no interest. I had sent the seller an email asking for more detail, pictures etc. but never received any response.

The seller had a 2 feedback rating. Not very comforting. It was listed as a complete collection not to be broken up.

There were several interested bidders whose questions to the sellers were posted, but no one willing to pony up any serious cash for items they could hardly see in these tiny photos. In the final minutes of the auction I found myself being the high bidder at $865.00. The reserve wasn’t met. The auction ended. I never followed up, but saved the listing and information.

Fast forward to January of 2007.

I come across the printouts from the auction and decide to send the seller an email asking if the collection had been sold.

I was shocked. I thought for sure someone, anyone smarter than me would have scoffed up what I believe in my gut was a very, very rare collection of Rolling Stones items.

It was still available. It hadn’t been broken up and the sellers wanted to sell.

This time I asked for photos, condition descriptions, and ANY information, dates, times, they could give me about the collection and how they acquired it.

Their story was unbelievable.

This couple worked at Longview Farms where the Stones practiced before their 1981 “Tattoo You” tour. The husband was a carpenter who actually built the stage they practiced on. His wife worked as a secretary.

After his work was done, he was asked by the owner to stay on to become part of the Stones entourage as they felt like they needed more people to help out.

So he did. And he worked the night shift. The shift which they practiced.

As the photos came in, I began to do my homework. The fun part as I see it. Looking for articles, photos, information detailing the time and dates of the Stones stay at Longview.

I enlarged pictures he sent of the guitar strap to match up the pattern on both the front and back to make sure it was the one pictured with Keith in what was eventually hundreds of photos from 1975-1978. It was in fact one of his most loved and most used guitar straps of his entire career. Duct tape, electrical tape and all. Pictured in every major book published or featuring stories on the “1975 Tour of the Americas.”

This was clearly a collection with rock solid provenance.
I made the deal for the entire collection.
The crown jewel of the collection wasn’t even pictured in the listing on ebay.

A handwritten set list from the surprise gig at Sir Morgan’s Cove in Worcester, MA written by Jagger himself.
Taken off the stage by Ian McLargen, the keyboard player touring with the Stones and given to the owner of this collection right after the gig.
He also grabbed a few Keith and Ronnie guitar picks.

Goes to show you, save everything.
Follow up.
Do your homework.
Never make any assumptions.

And with a little luck you’ll score some pretty cool shit.

Keith Richards\’ Bobby Lee Guitar Strap used during the Tour of the Americas in 1975

Keith Richards was wearing pirate shirts way before Johnny Depp.

This is for me perhaps the most interesting area of collecting.
It’s been a focus of mine for the last few years. Items owned and worn by the artists.
It’s also the easiest area to get screwed and ripped off in.
How real are the items?
How do you verify their authenticity?

Two tough questions.

As I have mentioned before, do your homework, buy from only the most reputable dealers, and ask a lot of questions before sending the check.

The photos here are the real deal.
The linen shirt I bought from a high end auction house but not before researching the crap out of it.
I tracked it back to the UK, a Christie’s auction and bought the catalog in which it was featured.

I tracked down and talked to the photographer, Michael Putland that took the photo that was displayed with the shirt.
Michael is a well known photographer in England that photographed the Stones extensively throughout the 70′s.
He was assigned to shoot the stills at this video shoot.
The shirt was worn during the filming of the “Respectable” video to promote the release of the critically acclaimed “Some Girls” album in 1978.
Got from him additional photos from that shoot that showed the shirt up close.
I then matched up the stitching, seams, etc. to make sure the shirt shown in the pictures I found was the same one being sold.
As I was told, seldom do designers make only one of something.

Below is the description direct from the auction catalog.

Description:

A ‘pirate-style’ shirt of white muslin, slashed to the waist and fastening with wrap-around ties, the material finely gathered at the shoulders, the loose sleeves trimmed with a ruff — worn by Richards on tour in America and Europe in the mid to late 1970s and given by him to the vendor Prince “Stash” Klossowski de Rola NOTES Prince Stash designed this shirt for his own use in 1975. Richards’ however took an instant liking to his friend’s shirt and according to Prince Stash, wore it himself extensively while on tour in Europe and the States in the 1970s, before returning it to its original owner.

None of this was detailed or described in the auction listing.

Prince Stash Klossowski De Rola, known to the Stones as “Stash”.
Hmmmm, wonder why?
He was the son of Balthus Klossowski de Rola, an esteemed Polish/French modern artist.
He was also Keith’s roommate from the early days.

Check out the picture of the guitar referred to as “Little Queenie,” part of the Hard Rock’s collection.
Also a gift from Stash to Keith.

Finally I decided to place a bid.
I stole the shirt for all intents and purposes.
It should have sold for a lot more money and is worth 3 times what I paid given all the photos and information I have found since.

But I did enough up front to have the confidence, it was real.

Check out the video of Keith wearing the shirt.

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Gram Parsons’ pants.

A completely weird story.

Another eBay find.
Listed as Mick Jagger’s pants,
given to Gram Parsons as a gift.
Like who would want these besides me?
So I bookmark the page, watched and waited.
No takers.
When stuff like this shows up on eBay and it does on a fairly regular basis, usually it doesn’t sell.
Reason being is no one will take the time to ask the right questions and find out more information.
Collectors for the most part who buy online are impatient and lazy.
Not me.
It’s easy to assume they’re fake with no reasonable back up or provenance.

Opening bid was $2000.

I emailed my friend Jeff Gold of Recordmecca in Venice, CA, and asked him what he thought, and was this listing legit.
They were described as pants belonging to Mick, then given to Gram Parsons as a gift.

He contacted the seller after the auction and found out the original owner these were being sold for was none other than John Nuese, Parsons former International Submarine band mate and longtime friend.
They were his and Parsons had given them to him personally.

Another rarity gone unnoticed on eBay.

A deal was struck.
I got the pants.
Jeff got 2 Gram’s stage worn cowboy shirts and a pair of boots.

A letter came from Nuese verifying the authenticity of the pants, the date they were given to him, and that not only did they belong to Mick and was worn by him, Keith also wore the pants.

The letter says “used by Mick and Keith.”
Ahem.

Guess in regards to Mick and Keith’s relationship, it finally clears up who wore the pants.

The all important letter.

Mick in all his splendor. Velvet pants and all.

The Rolling Stones 1972 American Tour. (STP) Stones Touring Party.

Here’s some rare and interesting memorabilia from the famed 1972 tour.
Stage plans, a guest pass, press tour book and a rare Exile poster promoting the album the Stones had just released.

Guest pass to the New York show signed by Peter Rudge.

Not recommended for Suede or Velvet. So very 70′s heh?

The Rolling Stones American Tour 1972, often referred to as the S.T.P. Tour (for Stones Touring Party), was a much-publicized and much-written-about concert tour of The United States and Canada in June and July 1972 by The Rolling Stones. Noted rock critic Dave Marsh would later write that the tour was “part of rock and roll legend” and one of the “benchmarks of an era.”

The tour followed the release of the group’s album Exile on Main St. a few weeks earlier on 12 May. But this was far more than a rock band’s typical promotional tour following the release of a new recording. Rather, it became a major pop cultural event of the time. It came at the height of the Stones’ reputation as “The Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band in the World,” and attention was focused on the group’s multi-edged visibility in popular consciousness: as purveyors of raw R&B carnal energy, and as the epitome of bohemian decadence, the band were seen as the opposite of the now-defunct, and relatively wholesome Beatles. At the same time, singer Mick Jagger was by now a glamorous celebrity who had moved into the jet set of high society. These aspects were all intertwined, and so the tour attracted much attention from observers of both high culture and low culture.

Tour set list

The standard set list for the tour was:

1. “Brown Sugar”
2. “Bitch”
3. “Rocks Off”
4. “Gimme Shelter”
5. “Happy”
6. “Tumbling Dice”
7. “Love in Vain”
8. “Sweet Virginia”
9. “Loving Cup”
10. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
11. “All Down the Line”
12. “Midnight Rambler”
13. “Bye Bye Johnny”
14. “Rip This Joint”
15. “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”
16. “Street Fighting Man”
17. Encore: often none, sometimes “Honky Tonk Women, a few times “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)”/”(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” medley performed jointly by the Stones and Stevie Wonder and his band

Only a few minor set list variations occurred from this, the exact number of which are subject to ongoing research. Notably absent was anything from before 1968 in the Stones’ catalog (excepting in the occasional encore medley). This tour also marked the banishment of their dark epic “Sympathy for the Devil,” which had been wrongly associated with the killing at Altamont, from Stones’ American performances for much of the 1970s.

After-effects

Many of the Stones’ associates and collaborators did not survive the atmosphere of the tour. Marshall Chess, the band’s de facto manager and head of Rolling Stones Records, lapsed into heroin addiction and lost over thirty pounds; he continued to work for the Stones at a diminished rate before leaving and detoxing in 1977. The rigors of the road exacerbated Nicky Hopkins’ frail health; he too would battle drug addiction before undergoing the Church of Scientology’s Purification Rundown several years later. Publicity coordinator Gary Stromberg, “one hundred percent fucked up” as per Greenfield’s account at the conclusion of the New York run, was left on a boat off Fire Island to clean up; a “thirty percent fucked up” Stromberg would replicate his duties for T.Rex’s first tour of America. Lighting director Chip Monck’s experimental projection system proved to be a convoluted mess and major embarrassment, decimating much of his reputation of being at the vanguard of the field.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rolling_Stones_American_Tour_1972