Tickets
Collecting old tickets and stubs from the 1960’s on back probably revolves around big-name artists more than any other category. Everyone loves old hits like “Incense and Peppermints” and “At the Hop,” but few people would want your old Strawberry Alarm Clock or Danny & the Juniors ticket stub. With so little real estate to display and usually no picture, the artist’s name really has to jump out at you. So all of the action tends to revolve around the most collectible musicians – but there are plenty of them.
Naturally, collectors prefer full, unused tickets over torn-in-half stubs. But stubs can be highly collectible, too, for the right artist or show. And at least stubs are usually a “onesie” or “twosie.” With unused full tickets, oftentimes one is just the tip of the iceberg… the promoter may have a whole shoebox of them, and leak them out one at a time, to keep interest high. Once collectors catch wind of quantity, the desirability slacks way off. For example: Although a full, unused Beatles concert ticket from the 1960s seems very attractive to someone outside the hobby, there’s a surplus of them from the Suffolk Downs Racetrack in Boston, MA for the Fab Four’s August 18, 1966 concert there. As a result… they sell for a relative pittance.
One reason to focus on ticket collecting from the 1960s-on back is that right around the turn of the 60s/70s decades, Ticketmaster began taking over and computer-generated concert tickets started to all look alike.
Here are a few examples of fun concert tickets from over the years. And keep in mind that I pay top dollar for vintage concert tickets and stubs by my favorite artists.
