A poster from the Winter Dance Party Tour, the 1959 concert series marred by the tragic deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, sold Tuesday at Heritage Auctions for $187,500.
The poster is from the performance in Fort Dodge, Iowa, on Jan. 30, 1959, four days before the three Rock N' Roll stars known for hits such as "Peggy Sue," "La Bamba" and "Chantilly Lace" died in a plane crash.
Posters close to Feb. 3, known as "The Day the Music Died," are among the most valuable in the world.
A poster from the scheduled Feb. 3 show in Moorhead, Minnesota, sold for $447,000 at Heritage Auctions two years ago, still the all-time record for any poster.
The poster from the Feb. 1 show in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the 10th concert of the scheduled 24-day tour, sold for $250,000. And a third one — from the stop in Mankato, Minnesota, on Jan. 25, sold for $125,000.
The Jan. 30 poster at Heritage included elements not seen in the other posters, including the words "Dancing for teen-agers only" and "Balcony reserved for adult spectators."
By newspapers accounts, roughly 1,000 people showed up on a cold and snowy night. The show started late, thanks to the less than ideal weather conditions, and there were concerns over a virus that had stricken roughly 10 percent of the city's population.
Before being auctioned off, this poster was displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
The poster has remarkable provenance. It was originally given to John Goddard of the renown Village Music Record Store in Mill Valley, California. Goddard sold it three decades later to a private collector for $10,000.
That private collector sold it to Heritage's Pete Howard for $25,000 in cash and trade. Howard then sold it for $75,000. That person sold it to the consignor David Swartz, who owns one of the most extensive vinyl collections in the world and paid six figures for the poster.
The winter tour of Midwest cities was planned haphazardly. The group went from one city to the next, often too far apart. The bus broke down because of the frigid temperatures, and some band members even got frostbite.
Eager to get to Moorhead, Minnesota, on a plane instead of by bus, Holly was scheduled to be on the plane. Valens and the Big Bopper were not. Valens won a coin flip to get the last seat over Dion DiMucci of Dion and the Belmonts (also featured on the poster), while the Big Bopper got a seat because he was sick and would do better with a faster trip.
The 1947 Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft had nine owners in 11 years. It was flown by 21-year-old Roger Peterson, who was said to not be qualified to fly by instruments. And the plane headed into a snowy, freezing, blustery environment.
The plane traveled 4.5 just miles before the crash, which killed all four passengers.
Twelve years later, in his hit song “American Pie,” Don McLean referred to Feb. 3, 1959 as “The Day The Music Died.”
Remarkably, the Winter Dance Party went on, and the three singers were replaced by other acts.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.