Musician David Bowie's space suit up for auction
In a greatest hit, David Bowie sang about Major Tom, who got lost in space: Now, his space suit is for sale. The auction house is expecting a bidding war, as musicians' memorabilia fetch top prices.
Major Tom's space suit
With the song "Ashes To Ashes," David Bowie said goodbye to one of his alter egos: Major Tom, the man lost in space. Now, Bowie's space suit from the accompanying music video is going under the hammer, with the auction house expecting it to fetch upwards of €92,000 ($92.000).
From David Bowie to Oasis
Two guitars and a bass from the music video for Oasis' world hit "Wonderwall" are also up for sale at the "Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction" in London. So are numerous other memorabilia from music history. Music memorabilia have been sold for record prices at auctions for years.
Jimi Hendrix' miracle weapon
In 1998, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen spent $2 million US dollars on the white Fender Stratocaster guitar that Jimi Hendrix played at Woodstock in 1969. The guitar — a similiar model pictured here — is in the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle, Washington, USA. Allen spent years on the museum building for a cost of $100 million dollars. Allen, who died in 2018, was a lifelong Hendrix fan.
David Gilmour's sweetheart
A similarly legendary guitar was sold for just under $4 million at a Christie's auction in New York in 2019: the "Black Strat." Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour played it while recording the seminal album "The Dark Side Of The Moon."
Kurt Cobain's "MTV Unplugged" guitar
However, the most expensive guitar sold to date is Kurt Cobain's "Martin" acoustic guitar, which he played at Nirvana's legendary MTV Unplugged concert in 1994. In 2020, it went over the hammer for $6 six million. The buyer was Peter Freedman, the founder of the microphone company Rode.
Frumpy cardigan grabbed six figures
The olive green cardigan Kurt Cobain wore on the "MTV Unplugged" evening was also auctioned off. In 2019, the hammer fell at $334,000 at an auction at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York, making it the most expensive cardigan ever sold.
Million dollar lyrics
It isn't just instruments and cardigans that fetch high prices at auctions: Handwritten lyrics of famous hits are equally popular. For example, the scrawled lines to the Beatles song "A Day In The Life" by John Lennon were sold for $1.2 million in London in 2006.
The original "Like A Rolling Stone"
Bob Dylan's lyrics to "Like A Rolling Stone" even fetched $2 million at Sotheby's in New York in 2014. According to the auction house, those were the only remaining drafts of the final version of the lyrics to the song, which has influenced many well-known musicians. It is also one of the most frequently covered rock songs.
The credit card of a pop star
In 2016, numerous belongings of the singer Whitney Houston, famous for the song "I Will Always Love You" and who died in 2012, were auctioned off in Beverly Hills. Among them was this credit card from "Master Card." In total, over 100 of Houston's personal possessions were auctioned off.
The 'King''s hair
Among the stranger memorabilia: this sample of star Elvis Presley's hair. Allegedly, it was left over when he shaved his head to join the US army. It changed hands for $18,300 in 2009.
Goldilocks
Hair bring us back to David Bowie: In 2016, this lock of the British singer's hair was auctioned off for $18,750. The seller was Wendy Farrier (pictured left), who made wigs for the wax figures at Madame Tussauds Museum in London in the late 1980s. When Bowie posed for his doll, Farrier asked him for the strand of hair so that she would be able to study its exact shade.