From December 3 – 11, the premier rock auction house, Backstage Auctions, will have the kind of auction that only they can deliver, a Rockin’ Holiday Auction.

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From December 3 – 11, the premier rock auction house, Backstage Auctions, will have the kind of auction that only they can deliver, a ‘Rockin’ Holiday Auction. This is the kind of auction that should quickly fill up all the stockings and Christmas gifts for every rocker n’ roller out there. And there is no shortage of hard rock and heavy metal items. Go here to get started. Here is a quick Q&A with owner Jacques Van Gool.

Please tell a little bit about this auction. What makes it so special?
Jacques Van Gool: Several factors make this a special auction event but the most prominent one is the pricing! Most of the 800+ items in our auction come directly from our online store and are — for the most part — unsold items from auctions that we had in the last three years. We’re giving them a ‘second chance,’ so to speak, at opening bid prices that are 75% less than the store price. As such you’ll find anything from $5.00 concert t-shirts to $25.00 concert posters from the 1960s. It’s a good mix of mostly classic rock, hard-rock and heavy-metal.

Is there a particular hard rock / heavy metal item that intrigues you from this auction?
Van Gool: Well, we had a Ted Nugent auction last summer and we still have a number of very impressive items left from that event, but I know that we also have some other attractive collectibles including Kiss, Aerosmith, Deep Purple, Van Halen and quite a few other great names.

You have a CREAM / ERIC CLAPTON 1968 HANDBILL up for auction. What can make handbills so rare? How different were handbills in the 60s and 70s (compared to now)? Explain their function and distribution…
Van Gool: What makes them so rare is the fact that back in the day, nobody saved handbills. I mean, they hardly saved posters as it was. Handbills — back then and now — haven’t changed much in terms of function and distribution. They were easy to hand out, fold up, stick in your pocket and serve as a reminder to whatever show was advertised. You would find ’em typically in record stores, book stores, clothing stores, as well as at venues where they served as advertisement for upcoming events. In that respect little has changed, with the exception that there are fewer stores, thus fewer handbills. Also, handbills from the 60s and 70s were often exact (small) replicas of the posters, whereas current handbills are usually one or two-color prints with mostly text and little art. A mint handbill from the 60s is almost by definition rare. Not only due to the fact that few people saved them but those that survived would often be folded or used for writing notes on the blank reverse.

You have both a Led Zeppelin UK “Store poster” and a Zeppelin commercial poster from a Santa Barabara concert worth a lot more. Are store posters often worth less?
If so, why?
Van Gool: Yes, store poster are traditionally worth less only because they were made in much larger quantities, distributed at larger levels and offered in mint condition. Concert posters were usually only made for local purposes in quantities of 50, 100 or a couple hundred. They would be stapled to phone poles, taped to windows at record stores and box offices etc, which means that finding one – especially unused – was a challenge. Today, they make concert posters in much larger quantities as promoters and bands have come to see the collectible value of them and often sell them after a show or tour through their own website.

What makes the 1976 KISS PHOTO LOT so rare? (see sample lead photo)
Van Gool: Truthfully, the word ‘Rare’ is perhaps a slight exaggeration. There are certainly a couple very nice photos in the lot and the best one is a fantastic color photo of Gene and Paul backstage in 1976. The photographer (Waring Abbott) decided to sell a limited quantity of 400 but only ended up making 10 (each individually numbered). It’s a 11 x 14 inch print, already matted and would look amazing once professionally framed.

A lot of Ted Nugent items up for auction again. He keeps popping up in your auctions. Please explain. Is his memorabilia in high demand?
Van Gool: Surprisingly yes. The first time we did a Ted Nugent auction — which was Ted’s personal collection — we were slightly apprehensive, not knowing how the public would respond to it. I mean, there’s no denying of the great songs he wrote and the rock star status he deservedly obtained in the 1970s. Having said that, most people these days think of Ted as a hunter with very strong political views, whose music has become secondary. I personally don’t think that’s a completely fair assessment though. Sure, he loves to talk about ‘everything’ non-music but if you see him in concert (and he’s one of the hardest working artists in my opinion), it’s easy to see that he still lives and breathes unadulterated Detroit Rock ‘n Roll! The real surprise, however, may be in the fact that Ted has a very loyal fan base outside of the US and we’ve sold a lot of his iconic items to countries such as Germany, the UK, Netherlands, France, etc.

Tell me about NAZARETH VINTAGE TOUR & PRESS COLLECTIBLES, DVD $10.00 (above).
Van Gool: Just a fun lot of some pretty vintage Nazareth mementos. I mean, for 10 bucks you’ll get a 1979 tour program, a 1976 press release with matching press photo, a backstage pass from the 70s and a rare concert DVD from a German show from 1984. Hard to beat that!

There are really affordable starting bids on this auction stuff.
Van Gool: Yeah, as I mentioned earlier, we took 800+ items and slashed the prices by 75%. You never will get another chance to find these collectibles for a better price. And we have it all, from poster, t-shirts and cool vinyl, to rare concert videos, DVDs, CDs, etc, etc. There are even unique signed items, large collections of rare DAT tapes, laser discs, tour programs, you name it. People can search by artist but we also have a feature where you can search by ‘Type Of Item’. Click on that and you’ll see an impressive listing of the type of collectibles we have, which is handy for those who are exclusively in the market for, let’s say, CDs or T-shirts.

If a band gets in R&R HALL of Fame (i.e., Guns n’ Roses this year) will the value of their items skyrocket? Will the value increase even a little?
Van Gool: I’m not sure about skyrocketing. That normally only happens in the event of either a death or a reunion (sad to say). But yes, it will have a positive impact and you normally see the price of collectibles go up for a Hall of Famer.

Please explain the “WOLFMAN JACK 1976 VINTAGE COLOR SLIDES $15.00 Artists A – Z (click for list) Photos, Prints & Negatives” a little (sample at left). Perhaps not enough people know the impact he had on rock n’ roll.
Van Gool: You’re right, with time passing by, fewer people know about the impact he had on Rock, especially during the 1970s and 1980s. Not only through his radio shows but WJ would often appear as the MC at large music festivals. If anything, I’d say, check out “Have Mercy!: Confessions Of The Original Rock ‘n Roll Animal”, which is a great book and a very educative read about music in the 70s.

Anything else you’d like to add?
Van Gool: Well, I appreciate the opportunity to let people know about this auction. We had a lot of fun putting it together and I hope our visitors will have just as much fun browsing through our store and picking up some good deals along the way. Judging from the traffic we’ve had thus far on our site, I expect that we’ll clean out nicely by the time the auction comes to an end, which will be on Sunday, December 11. After that, we’ll take a small break and get ready for our spring 2012 Hard-Rock/ Heavy-Metal auction, which will be the 2nd one we’ll host and this one promises to be bigger and better than the first one. We’ll have some great artists consigning to the auction and we’ll have a very impressive offering of guitars, drums, amps, stage worn gear, etc. etc.

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