Autographs from members of the Sex Pistols are in enormous demand.
It’s no surprise when you consider the enormous impact they had.
Overnight, they kick-started a new subculture – one that tore up everything that came before.
Here’s a few thoughts on what’s driving demand now...
Punks are older now
The young punks that hung around on King’s Road are well into middle age.
John Lydon was the figurehead for a generation (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
They’re looking back over their lives. Some have gotten to thinking they’d like to buy an item that connects them to their youth.
We see it often with musicians – particularly those seen as defining their eras.
This demand has driven up value.
An ultra rare signed God Save the Queen 7” was offered for $10,000 in 2017.
Sex Pistols memorabilia is inherently rare
Punks weren’t big on signing autographs.
It was considered extremely uncool.
Bands were usually abrasive and combative with audience members. Autograph hunters would have been laughed out of the venue.
This is already a considerable barrier to owning a piece signed by one Sex Pistol – let alone all of them.
Then you have Sid Vicious.
His destructive behaviour was one of the main reasons the band broke up in 1978 (they were only together for a short time between 1975 and 1978).
Vicious died of a heroin overdose in New York a year later. His autograph is the rarest and most sought after.
Not much was kept
Part of the punk ethos was that it was ephemeral and disposable.
Unlike other music movements, where the artist is treated with reverence, punk kicked down the barrier to the audience.
The Sex Pistols in 1978 - shortly before they broke up (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
It was accessible in a way that other genres were not.
In 2016, Joe Corre – son of Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren and designer Vivienne Westwood – burned his family’s stock of punk memorabilia on a barge on the Thames.
That’s an extreme example.
But other important pieces of punk memorabilia have been lost or thrown out over the years – especially when you consider that many former punks are now respected professionals.
Those days tearing around Chelsea seem like a lifetime ago.
Paul Fraser.
PS. I have a superb Sex Pistol autograph for sale. Click here to take a look.
PPS. Do you have a Sex Pistols autograph you’re looking to sell? I may be able to help. Get in touch today at info@paulfrasercollectibles.com.
