If you love pop culture, have too much money and even more time on your hands, then – boy howdy! – do we have the auction for you. This weekend the Los Angeles-based auction house Julien’s will hold its Idols & Icons auction, where you can pick up the likes of Kurt Cobain’s ‘MTV Unplugged’ cardie (that one starts at £26,000, with burn marks included). And that’s not all – here are the most bizarre items you can pick up, just in time for Christmas. What do you get for the relative who has everything? That’s right, Elvis Presley’s prescription for muscle relaxant.
For the recommended price of $15,000-$17,000 (£9,800-£11,100), you can snap up the upper mould used for Michael Jackon’s beastly appearance in the 1983 music video for 1983’s ‘Thriller’. Tasty!
Kurt’s cardie has a guide price of $40,000 to $60,000 (£26,000 to £39,000). The auction literature describes it as “a blend of acrylic, mohair and Lycra with five-button closure (one button absent), with two exterior pockets, a burn hole and discoloration near left pocket and discoloration on right pocket.”
In more “this is actually quite creepy” news: here’s a LIFE SIZE statue of a cowboy child clutching a bedraggled teddy bear, which once adorned the grounds of Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch. Be the envy of all your friends for a guide price of $400-$600 (£250-£400).
This is actually quite pretty. Probably not $10,000-$11,000 (£6500-7000) kind of pretty, but then it was painted by Frank Sinatra, whose eyes were as blue as this serene sky (and whose temper was reportedly as choppy as the sea below it).
What is it with celebrity auctions and locks of dead people’s hair? This one belonged to John Lennon, who enclosed it with a signed note (“Love from ‘bald’ John Lennon xxx”) at a Beatles concert in 1963, for which the ticket stub is also included. Guide price: a whopping $20,000-$30,000 (£13,100-£19,600).
A life insurance policy for Elvis Presley, accompanied with “140 additional documents including medical reports; cardiac charts; discharge summaries; various test results; and correspondence between doctors and insurance agents, all dating primarily from 1976 and 1977”. This bedtime reading will set you back an estimated $10,000-$15,000 (£6,500-£9,800).
Who could this plectrum have belonged to? That’s right, Enoch Powell! No, no, not really – it was Elvis Presley, who had it made for his final tour in 1977. Strum away with it for a guide price of $800-$1,200 (£500-£800).
1963, Tallahassee, Florida: Doors frontman Jim Morrisson is arrested for getting drunk and bothering police at a Florida State University football match. “Drunk & Petty Larceny of Police Helmet & Umbrella,” reads the message on the back. Savour this golden moment for an estimated $4,000-$6,000 (£2,600-£4,000).
