How to combine your passion for music and movies with investing

If you’re passionate about particular movies or music, you could make this passion an investment. Collecting posters of classic movies and music is a growing pastime. And some of the best examples are making collectors and investors a lot of money.

But what sorts of posters are worth looking at? And what do you need to watch out for?

Posters worth investing in

The most desirable posters are those relating to classic movies and to particular artists and bands in the music industry.

Posters of classic movies

Classic movies include the likes of Casablanca and King Kong. Yet more recent movies, like Pulp Fiction, are also desirable collection pieces for poster investors.

The value of rare posters of classic movies have fetched quite astonishing amounts at auction.
Take a poster for Metropolis, a classic science fiction movie from 1927, Rosie Murray-West in The Telegraph explains. In 2005, a poster raised $690,000 at auction. In 2012, the poster along with eight others, sold for $1.2 million.

Posters relating to music

The most lucrative era for posters relating to the top bands and artists is the 1960s and 1970s. Think Janice Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and the Doors.

There is growing demand for posters from this era.

One example is the poster used by Santana as an album cover, BG-134.

This piece of art by Lee Conklin was selling in 2009 for around $2,000. By January this year, one example of this poster fetched $5,290 at auction, Mike Storeim, the president of Concert Posters told the Sovereign Society.

The key to buying the best posters

The rarer and more popular the poster, the better. To do well at this kind of investing, you need to know your stuff.

Research as much as possible. Don’t overpay for pieces. And, if you can, check the poster before buying.

Buying online through auction sites can prove inadvisable as this is where you’re likely to come across forgeries. Try to find a trustworthy poster dealer instead.

So there you have it.