The information discussed here relates predominantly to posters from the 1960s onwards
Lets start by saying that a poster’s value bears very little relationship to its visual appeal, a lot of the time it is driven by an items rarity and its associations. If you can get an event and artist in combination then the only way is up ..
The original poster for the Live Aid event was designed by Steve Maher based on the idea of Bob Geldof. The logo depicts a stylized silhouette of the African continent as the body of a guitar. The wordmark is based on caps from Gill Extra Bold, arranged in two lines aligned to the I’s, and integrated into the guitar’s neck. Demian (Letraset, 1984) is the script typeface used for “the Global Jukebox”. Flanked by a fork and a knife, the logo is shown as a chrome application on a jukebox that emerges from planet Earth.
The Dartford, Kent native Sir Peter Blake may be known for many great artistic feats, from his involvement in the pop art movement to his co-creation of the instantly recognisable sleeve design for the Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, but even in 1984, he was far from done with designing momentous record covers. That was shown by his memorable art for the single sleeve of Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas, November 25 being the date on which a supergroup consisting of such stars as Bob Geldof, Midge Ure, Bono, Sting and Boy George gathered in a Notting Hill studio to record a song that raised millions for the Ethiopian famine relief effort.
Peter Blake, world renowned Pop Artist, Collage Artist and many genres in between had previous associations through the design of the Band Aid record cover. So it was natural that he would contribute to the design element of the biggest global entertainment event that the world had ever seen
Of course the posters were printed in large quantities using the offset process so rarity is not so much of an issue. What makes the second poster worth so much more is its association with Blake. A memorable event and a great artist. The double thereat in poster values …