Alternative Investments: Rock Posters and Memorabilia
A poster of the Stranglers or a pin up of Wham may have been kept by you for sentimental value. However have you considered their investment potential as the generation that values those bands get older and have money at their disposal to spend on memories. Suddenly collectors are realizing that vintage original posters are worth something.
The high priest of rock memorabilia himself, Jeff Gold, who spent his career in the music industry before ending as a executive and Warner Bros. believes all it takes is carful but wise decision combined with good taste to buy a poster and see it appreciate in value.
At the moment with interest rates so low and little chance of them increasing in the future the canny Investor needs to look to other forms of investment to make any sort of return. Rock posters and memorabilia may offer that opportunity for the canny investor and is good fun for those who are interested in the subject.
The saturation of property shows on TV did not help with the delusion of property always being a surefire thing; massive increases in property are at an end for the foreseeable future. If you pick wisely, you might some slow growth in value, but gone are the days when house prices doubled, or trebled in 10 years.
The Eurozone Crisis continues to hang over the banking sector and all the entwined debts that come with it, which could make the 2008 Credit Crunch look like an entre. The bottom line is people are avoiding financial investments or limiting them as much as possible.
So the good news is it’s a boom industry for areas that people would have laughed at you for suggesting as an investment opportunity. Various collectors markets such as watches, wine, art, classic cars etc. As more and more people move into these areas, prices are rising artificially high, creating another bubble.
Rock posters and similar products still offer the opportunity to pick up products with investment potential at very reasonable prices. The right items can reach very high prices. Beatles memorabilia for example are very sought after. A poster from their American tour was sold for well over $60,000.
But you do not have to wait 40 plus years to make a profit. A poster for White Stripes for instance that was purchased for only $15 in 2003 sold recently for $1,600. That is a return very few other investments can equal and it is not totally unique if you can select the right posters of the right bands that go on to become legends.
The market for Rock posters has been around for some time. Indeed the Hard Rock Caf (which celebrates its 40th birthday this year) gets a large part of its appeal from the selection of genuine Rock Memorabilia which it puts on the walls of its restaurants. What gives the current market such potential is the impact of the Internet in creating a worldwide market to buy and sell on a daily basis. This massive expansion of the market is driving prices up.
Rock Memorabilia has always been a vibrant but unknown market, but the growth of eBay and the internet commerce goes hand in hand, expanding the market and creating a more vibrant market, but with a finite number of original posters and more searchers, prices can only go one way.
Marcus Selmon writes for Just Commercial Mortgages the UK’s No1 site for the latest commercial mortgage rates and commercial property finance news
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