Our Top Five pieces of rare Rolling Stones memorabilia

Its recording sessions were marred by drug abuse and flakiness from the group's members, and it received mixed reviews up its release in 1972. Yet the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street album is today regarded as the band's masterpiece.

And now, 39 years after the group released the collection of songs including Rocks Off and Turd on the Run, an updated version of the LP has climbed to the top of the UK album chart. Meanwhile, a film about the album, The Stones in Exile, has also been released.


A Fender guitar signed by all five
Rolling Stones, including guitarist
Ron Wood

To mark the classic album's successful rerelease - in fact, the Rolling Stone's first #1 since 1994 - here is our Top Five list of Stones memorabilia.

Because Exile on Main Street's reissue is likely to turn plenty of new fans onto the group, our list focuses on entry-level memorabilia for new collectors and investors.

As Mick Jagger himself once said of the Exile on Main Street LP, "I'm not too sure how great the songs are, but put together it's a nice piece." Here are five more nice pieces into which collectors have invested their hearts and wallets over the years...

#5, A Brian Jones group of handwritten letters and a signed magazine (1965-66) - $3,300

Long before Ron Wood joined the Rolling Stones, their original fifth member was the mad, bad and dangerous to known Brian Jones. By all accounts the group's leader in their earliest years, Jones later died a tragic death in a swimming pool in 1969, aged just 27.

But earlier in the mid-'60s, the Stones were still enjoying their early heyday. From that period, a collection of correspondence between Jones and a fan called Martha sold for $3,300 in Los Angeles, in 2007.

The letters - consigned by Martha herself - sold with along with a magazine, The Rolling Stones Book, signed by Jones.

"Yes, I remember meeting Terry, / and he did stay with me for a / while, but I don't know where / he is now. I think he went / back to America, I'm not sure," writes Jones in blue ballpoint ink. The letters were sold in their original transmittal envelopes with relative postmarks (ie "London / 27 4 '66").


Brian Jones took time out from his life of hedonism to write to Martha, a fan

#4, A Rolling Stones signed Fender Telecaster electric guitar - $4,406

A Fender Squier Telecaster - a budget alternative to original Fender's US models - wouldn't normally sell for $4,406. But add the signatures of Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Ron Wood, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts and it straightaway gains a whole new rock 'n' roll significance...


One to be seen out in: Mick Jagger's
1967 jacket

The crème finish Tele is signed by each of the five Rolling Stones, with Richards' inscription reading "It's only rock 'n' roll," in reference to the band's famous song. This singular piece of rock history auctioned in Los Angeles, in 2005.

#3, A 1960s magazine autographed by the five original Stones - $7,050

Signed copies of the Rolling Stone's eponymous 1964 debut LP, autographed by all five original members have generally sold for £2,000-2,500 at auction.

In comparison, this copy of the 1960s magazine Rave featuring, and signed by, the five original Rolling Stones (see bottom picture) went all the way up to $7,050 when it sold on Sunset Boulevard in 2005.

#2, A rare poster for the Rolling Stones at the Queens Hall, Leeds (1964) - £7,800

Back in the 1960s, groups would often journey out on "package tours" where audiences could see the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd perform one after the other.

On Sunday July 12, 1964, the Stones' headlined a stage shared by Lulu & The Luvvers, Rey Anton & The Pepper Mint Men, Ryles Brothers with Dallas, and Ray Kennon & The Guvnors.

This poster dates to the Stones' earliest incarnation, when ill-fated multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones was still in the group. Printed in blue on white and measuring 30 x 40 inches, this piece of early-'60s rock history auctioned in London, 2008, for £7,800.


Stones group-signed autographs featuring Brian Jones (middle) are especially
rare, following his early death aged just 27

#1, Mick Jagger's jacket from 1967 - £10,800

Stones frontman Jagger was one of the most stylish and recognised faces in "Swinging Sixties" London. So an opportunity to buy his ivory satin jacket, worn onstage during the group's European tour of 1967, proved an unmissable opportunity for collectors in London, 2005.

Decorated with dragons, pagodas and other oriental motifs, and striped lining and an inside pocket labelled Hung On You à Londres, this "holy grail" of Rolling Stones attire sold with a photograph of Mick Wearing the jacket for £10,800.

All prices shown include Buyer's Premium.


 

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