4.20.2012

Bicycle Day 2012: The Shulgin Blotter Art Fundraiser

(Reposted verbatim) 


Today is a particularly special Bicycle Day anniversary, as it celebrates the accomplishments of two great psychedelic scientists: Albert Hofmann, the father of LSD, and Alexander (Sasha) Shulgin, discoverer of the therapeutic properties of MDMA and hundreds of novel psychoactive chemicals. 

It was 69 years ago today that Dr. Hofmann embarked upon the world's first intentional LSD trip, and his otherworldly bicycle ride from his laboratory to his house gave name to today's anniversary. LSD first started being distributed on blotter paper around thirty years after Dr. Hofmann's premier journey, and after a short time this gave rise to a specialised art form - decorated sheets of blotter paper. After some time, art lovers and psychonauts began to collect the unsaturated (inactive) artwork, and since then its popularity as an art form has blossomed.

This Bicycle Day marks the launch of the fifth and final round of auctions in the Sasha Shulgin Blotter Art Fundraiser. The remaining 10 of 58 sheets of rare blotter-art, signed by Sasha and Ann Shulgin, Stanislav Grof, Ralph Metzner, James Fadiman and Dennis McKenna, will be auctioned on eBay to raise money for the Shulgins' extensive medical care bills. 

In late 2010, Shulgin suffered a stroke. Although he is recovering, Ann and Sasha are struggling against a tide of medical and care bills. Sasha has spent his life doing basic research and giving his work away for free and although large sums of money are being made from the fruits of his labour, Sasha did not make much money. Funds raised from the auction of these limited artefacts of psychedelic history will help an elderly couple that together have transformed psychedelic science in a way that no fundraiser can ever repay.

These sheets, which are signed by some of the most brilliant and influential thinkers in the past 60 years of psychedelic science, have been estimated to have current values in excess of $750. These values are expected to rise substantially in the future. Yet, the sheets have been selling at well under half these values. Please, dig deep and consider bidding on these important items, either as a wise investment or as a kind donation.

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