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A kind of magic Queen archive acquisition (I hope)

For the last week I have been buzzing about what I think is a highly unusual acquisition of Queen items, including a number of fine autographs from April1978. When I bought the archive my Queen collection literally went from 0 to 60 in 10 seconds, or perhaps two minutes.

I am certainly no expert on Queen autographs so before writing too much I'd like to share one of my favourite single signatures and get your opinions on it. It is actually on white card (or heavy paper) but for some reason my camera has given the whole card a blue tinge:

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Permalink Reply by a pug called eva on March 7, 2022 at 10:26pm

Thanks Jimbo.

The penultimate poster is signed by all four. The best autograph in terms of boldness, contrast and placement is certainly Freddie's, assuming it's real of course. The poster measures 46 cm x 62 cm. My camera has made the image look at little strange but it's fine in reality.

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Permalink Reply by Jimbo on March 8, 2022 at 1:32am

All good. Shame Taylor didn't sign above his head for better contrast.

I used to own all the original negatives (but not the copyright) for this photo shoot. Made some huge prints from them. Sold them on years ago.

What's your plans for the collection?

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Permalink Reply by a pug called eva on March 8, 2022 at 8:01am

Thanks Jimbo.

I forgot to mention it before but I think Taylor first signed in biro and then again in marker pen.

I'll discuss my plans, or lack of them, in a post tomorrow.

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Permalink Reply by a pug called eva on March 9, 2022 at 1:19am

Here is the final signed poster. Again, signed by all four. Of the three group posters this would be my favourite, mainly because of the Freddie. The contrast of the Taylor is again not so fantastic. Judging by the pin-holes this must have been on a wall at some time but it doesn't seem to have been in the sun.

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Permalink Reply by a pug called eva on March 9, 2022 at 4:13am

I forgot to say that the poster measures 41.5 cm x 56 cm.

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Permalink Reply by a pug called eva on March 9, 2022 at 1:28am

To wrap up, I attach below a Taylor-signed page from the 1979 tour programme and the posters for the Swiss concerts of 1977, 1978 and 1979. I don't know how the former was obtained. Some final comments will follow in a separate post.

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Permalink Reply by a pug called eva on March 9, 2022 at 1:50am

So those were all the signed items from the Queen archive I was lucky enough to acquire around a couple of weeks ago. It is possible that I may have overseen one or two signatures but I think I have found everything.

This must be one of, if not the, largest number of items signed by Queen for a single fan on a single evening. I am left wondering:

1. Why the fan asked for so many things to be signed. It wouldn't have been for money back in those days. Maybe he wanted to use some of the signed items for trades.

2. Why he didn't get his tour programme signed. The programme is in the archive and he must have had it with him after the concert.

3. How he managed to get pretty large posters signed and signed so well. I presume there was a table available. It must have been a bit awkward taking the posters to the concert.

Having just acquired the archive I need some time to consider what to do with it. I am a collector by nature and generally like to hold on to the things I buy. It would certainly be interesting to do more research and document the archive in a more permanent way.

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Permalink Reply by crazyrabbits23 on March 9, 2022 at 2:41am

That is one gorgeous collection -- a grail find, if I ever saw one.

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Permalink Reply by Sugi on March 16, 2022 at 4:39pm

Wow , what a great find. And to think i was happy to find just the one.

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Permalink Reply by Andy on March 23, 2022 at 10:11am

Really nice find. Are you willing to part with some of them? If so please PM me.

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Permalink Reply by a pug called eva on April 30, 2022 at 7:31am

Today is the 44th anniversary of Queen's gig at the Hallenstadion in Zurich and of their fan club "after-party" at the Atlantis Hotel. It was at this "party" that the autographs in this thread were obtained.

Although 44 is not exactly a monumental anniversary (perhaps somewhat interesting in that 22 years were in the last century and 22 in this), I decided to go and take some photos of the hotel as it is today (attached). Personally, I like the 1970s architecture.

I couldn't get too close as the hotel is closed and being renovated by its new owners. It will open as a 5-star member of the Five Group in July this year; at least as currently planned. Given that the rooms advertised for August/September are around CHF 800 (ca. $800) a night and given that I live only 40 minutes' away, I doubt I'll be booking an overnight stay but I may treat myself to drinks or dinner to see where the "party" actually took place within the hotel.