PAE generally reports on the state of the vintage concert poster market in this forum, however, we wanted to share some news from the greater collectibles world. This weekend, mega auction house Heritage Auctions is offering an important collection of vinyl record albums culled from the archives of renowned rock music collector, David Swartz. The collection features an amazing assortment of rare records from the history of Rock 'N' Roll. 362 items from David's archive will be auctioned this Weekend including rare discs from The Beatles, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, and much more. Many of the records are still sealed, and a number feature authentic signatures. Browse the auction here!

Records truly are the companion collectible to posters. Not only is music the source of our initial connection to the posters but album cover art is intimately entwined with poster art. The era of rock music that we are devoted to delved into similar pools of aesthetics and design and many of the San Francisco poster artists also created some of the most enduring album art ever.

David Swartz is also one of the world’s top collectors of concert posters. His collection was the sole source for the posters that were displayed at the 2019 Rock-themed exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art titled “Play it Loud”. David has spent more than three decades amassing countless rare posters, records, and other forms of music memorabilia. For more information check out this New York Times article from 2017!