Reasons
to Build a Time-Traveling Delorean: The History of
Ten Club Poster Sales
If
you're a Pearl Jam geek, you've saved every bit of
mail that Pearl Jam and the Ten Club has sent you.
If you're a borderline obsessive, ultra-extreme geek
- like me - you use those mailings to piece together
a brief history of Ten Club poster sales. Warning:
the following may cause severe regret. |
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As
Issue #7 marked the beginning of my Ten Club membership,
I cannot speak to the availability of posters prior
to this (Winter 1994?) issue. Other than the outside
chance the 1992 Alive poster was available from
the 10c, I don't believe any posters would have
been for sale prior to this time. Issues #7 and
#8 make no mention of posters so with Issue #9 (left,
received early 1996), we see our first opportunity
to purchase the 1995 Salt Lake and San Diego posters.
The description reads:
"LIMITED
EDITION POSTERS - From Salt Lake show with
Seattle's own Fastbacks and legendary San Diego
show with the Ramones. These 21x33" silk-screened
pieces of history can be yours, so don't hesitate.
Only 1000 in existence."
Each
was listed at $13, and at the time shipping was
included for all US orders.
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Later
that year, I was fortunate enough to attend the
Buffalo, NY show. At the merch table, the flyer
to the right was available, advertising an assorted
bag of PJ goods - "Just what the Doctor Ordered".
Interestingly, only the 1995 San Francisco and New
Orleans are offered, at $13/each. Contrary to the
other similar "snakeman" prints, San Francisco
is listed as having a run of 1200. Text reads:
"#11a
LIMITED EDITION SILK-SCREENED POSTER. From
San Francisco show with Bad Religion and Neil Young.
4 color print. 1 of 1200 posters printed on the
finest Italian paper, micropulverized for quality!
#11b
LIMITED EDITION SILK-SCREENED POSTER. From
New Orleans show. 4 new colors. Highlight any wall
or door with this attractive piece of history!"
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The
postcard at the left was likely received by 10c
members in the spring of 1997. It may have been
enclosed with Issue #11 (below) because it displays
the Vitalogy Health Club logo on the top right -
which I believe made it's debut with Issue #11.
Regardless, it offers for $10/each, the 1995 San
Diego, Salt Lake City, and New Orleans "snakeman"
posters. In addition we see for the first time the
1993 Fall Tour poster, (incorrectly offered as the
"92 European Tour Poster"), for $5. This
postcard also marked the first time the Ten Club
charged shipping for US orders.
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The
goods section of Issue #10 contained no posters
for purchase. Issue #11, postmarked 7/3/97, introduces
10c members to the "Vitalogy Health Club"
and also gave us the opportunity to purchase a handful
of the 1996 No Code Tour prints. For $12/each, the
following prints were available:
Seattle,
Washington, Hartford, New York, Ft. Lauderdale,
Berlin, Spain, Amsterdam, Paris, Zurich, Portugal,
London, Rome/Milan, Hamburg, Istanbul and Ireland.
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Mailed
in March 1998, Issue #12 offered a more limited
supply of 1996 prints, but brought back the Fall
Tour 1993 poster (still labeled "European Tour"),
1995 New Orleans, San Diego and Salt Lake posters,
and debuted the 1997 Oakland (elephant) print.
Prices
were as follows:
$5 - 1993 Fall Tour
$10/each - 1995 New Orleans, San Diego, Salt Lake
City
$12/each - 1996 Hartford, Ft. Lauderdale, Berlin,
Amsterdam, Paris, Portugal, London, Rome/Milan,
Hamburg, Istanbul, Ireland
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Membership
renewal notice - (mailed early/mid 98?) offered the
same selection as Issue #12, with the exception of
Hartford '96, which had apparently sold out. |
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Mailed
in Fall 1998, issue #13 provides perhaps the largest
selection of PJ prints of any newsletter. Several
tours are represented, with the 1998 prints pictured
in full color. The 1993 Fall Tour poster is for
the first time correctly labeled "US Tour 93",
and is actually now priced $3 higher, at $8. The
1995 New Orleans, San Diego and Salt Lake City and
remaining 1996 and 1997 tour prints are discounted
to $8/each! Breakdown is as follows:
$8/each
- 1993 Fall Tour, 1995 New Orleans, San Diego, Salt
Lake City, 1996 Hamburg, Istanbul, London, Paris,
1997 Oakland
$16/each - 1998 Vancouver, Virginia
Beach, Montreal/Toronto, Los Angeles, New Zealand,
Rushmore, Salt Lake City
Kicking
yourself yet?
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The
1999 membership renewal notice (I received mine
in April) proves that the 10c had by this time sold
out of most 1996-1998 posters, with the exception
of 5: Salt Lake City, VA Beach, New Zealand, Los
Angeles, and the 1998 North American Tour poster.
Each was still available for $12.
Newsletter
#14 was received around this same time, and contained
the same selection as the renewal notice, with the
exception of the NA Tour print. Salt Lake City,
VA Beach, New Zealand and Los Angeles were still
available for $12/each.
Issue
#15 contains a single poster for sale - the NA Tour
print that for some reason was not available in
#14. Priced at $12, it marks the end of limited
edition prints being sold through 10c newsletters.
It
is, however, interesting to note that some of the
1995 posters were still available at this time via
the newly born Tenclub.net. These remaining prints
were available in the "Goods" section
of the site for several months, at $8/each.
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The
information above was pieced together from my personal
PJ collection, as well as memories from my feeble
little brain. I believe most of it is accurate,
but I welcome any comments,
corrections, or questions you may have. In addition,
I would be very interested to hear if any posters
were available via the 10c prior to 1994.
And
while I have you here, I'd like to bring something
to your attention. As early/late as 4/1/98, you
could have ordered the 1996 Istanbul poster for
$12 + $3 shipping in the US. On this same date,
the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 10,734.97.
On 10/21/06, the Dow closed at 12,002.37 - an adjusted
increase of 12% over that period. As of the same
date, the Istanbul poster has a 6-month average
selling price of $709.75. That's an increase of
4632%. Is poster collecting only about money? Of
course not... but stocks aren't nearly as fun, are
they?
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"Reasons
to Build a Time-Traveling Delorian: The History of Ten
Club Poster Sales" Text Copyright 2006, The Colors
Blend. All images copyright their respective artists. |
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