Expert: Andrea Murphy - 10/15/2009

Question
Hello,
I saw that you answered a question similar to mine but wanted to know a little more info. I purchased a VH Memorial Day poster and at the bottom it says, "Van Halen Memorial Day '83". I have noticed that other posters have just, "Van Halen Memorial Day" on them. My poster does have the "1983 Van Halen Production" in small print on the lower left corner. Do you know what the original vintage poster says? I am afraid I bought a reprint or a fake:(
Thank you,
Darcy

Answer
Hi Darcy,

Sorry for the delay, I didn't get a notification of your question.

So the original "real" poster is part of the 1983 US Festival VH show program with the "Van Halen Memorial Day" text.  That was a folded item with the program on the other side.  Because the photo was popular, a rolled, mass produced poster was available throughout the 80s in most record stores.  I have no idea what that said, but most stuff from VH in that timeframe indicated a copyright to VH or a reference to it being a VH production.

With all of that being said...even if it is a reproduction...the best way to tell would be copy marks (embedded marks, misalignment, and copy quality/poster quality).  It would be hard to tell anyway...I remember buying one of the mass produced posters from a record shop around 1985 for my dorm room.  It was slightly misaligned...I didn't notice it until after I stuck push pins into it.

I hope this helps.
Andrea