Like the piano on which Freddie Mercury composed “Bohemian Rhapsody” or the hat that Michael Jackson wore during his first “Moonwalk” that will be auctioned in September, here are other celebrity relics that caused a stir at the auctions.
• Also read: Thousands of Freddie Mercury items are being auctioned off
Marilyn Monroe’s dress
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A buyer paid $4.8 million in November 2016 to acquire the iconic tight dress that Marilyn Monroe wore to lasciviously sing “Happy Birthday Mr President” to President John F. Kennedy on his 45th birthday, and was by Julien’s Auctions.
The dress clung so tightly to Marilyn that it had to be sewn onto the legendary actress and singer just before she took the stage at Madison Square Garden in New York on May 19, 1962.
Many other Marilyn dresses went under the hammer of auctioneers.
Kurt Cobain’s guitar
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The guitar on which Kurt Cobain recorded Nirvana’s famous “Unplugged” concert in 1993 sold for $6 million at an auction at Julien’s in June 2020. A record for a guitar.
The most expensive guitar up to that point was a Fender Stratocaster, called the “Black Strat,” which was used by the guitarist of the British group Pink Floyd, David Gilmour. The musician sold it for $3.975 million at an auction organized by Christie’s to benefit charity in June 2019.
Michael Jordan’s jersey
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Sotheby’s sold the number 23 jersey worn by basketball player Michael Jordan during his last victorious NBA title in 1998 for $10.1 million in September 2022, setting an all-time record for a sporting item.
Other jerseys have reached record highs, such as soccer player Diego Maradona’s jersey, which sold for $9.3 million in May 2022, or basketball player Kobe Bryant’s jersey, which sold in February 2023, three years after his death at age 41 years ago in a helicopter crash, was sold for $5.8 million. Both at Sotheby’s.
Another sporting relic, the ball with which Diego Maradona scored his legendary goal at the 1986 World Cup with the help of “the hand of God”. In November 2022 it was auctioned at Graham Budd Auctions for £2 million.
The manuscript for “Like a Rolling Stone”
Julien’s Auctions/Supplied by WENN.com
The original manuscript of Bob Dylan’s most famous song, “Like a Rolling Stone,” sold for $2 million at Sotheby’s in June 2014, making it the most expensive song manuscript at auction.
Most recently, the manuscript of Starman, David Bowie’s 1972 hit, sold for £203,500 at Omega Auctions in September 2022.
Michael Jackson’s glove
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A rhinestone-embellished beige leather glove worn by Michael Jackson when he first performed his famous “Moonwalk” in 1983 sold for $350,000 in a frantic auction of the late pop star’s items in New York in November 2009 that same year Suffered from a drug overdose at the age of 50.