Memorabilia with ties to John Lennon, Prince, Noel Gallagher, Amy Winehouse and more will go under the hammer in Sotheby’s inaugural pop culture auction.
Although music, sports and film fans have long been willing to pay for a piece of star-studded history, it is only in recent years that this field of collecting has found an established home in the world of high-end auction houses.
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Such is the growing market for popular culture items that Sotheby’s has expanded its science and popular culture department into the UK and Europe from its base in New York. In the three years since its launch the department has staged sales including Buzz Aldrin: American Icon ($8.2 million total); Maximus the T. rex skull ($6.1 million) and the source code for the world wide web ($5.4 million). Each was far eclipsed by the blockbuster success of ‘Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own’, which made $50 million.
Katherine Schofield head of department for rock, pop & film; popular culture, UK & EMEA at Sotheby’s previously told Spear’s that she has seen an uptick in interest in recent years and that collectibles tend to weather the storm of economic uncertainty. However, the one-off nature of most pieces means lots can be difficult to price.
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‘You can’t kind of look at the database and say, “Oh, yes, we’ve had so many of these and it should be in this realm”,’ she explained. ‘You can find other similar items that you might want to compare with. But most of the pieces are pretty unique.
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‘There’s definitely different market areas and it can kind of gauge you and where demand is. But I would say it is different to the art market. For example, with the Freddie Mercury sale, some of those prices far exceeded any presale estimate because of the level of interest.’
Highlights of the latest sale include a VOX HDC-77 semi-hollow electric guitar used by music legend Prince, which has an estimate of between £200,000 and £300,000; an archive collection from John & Yoko’s ‘Bed-in For Peace’ protest ( £70,000-£90,000); and a Steinway grand piano bought by Abbey Road Studios and used by Amy Winehouse, Lady Gaga and others, which has an estimated price of between £150,000 to £200,000.
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Schofield cautioned collectors against viewing any purchase as a sure-fire investment, adding: ‘Buy what you really affiliate with what you enjoy the person you relate to that moment in time and history and pop culture. Was it a concert you went to? Is it a film that you’ve watched again and again, so that you have that item and enjoy it and then if it becomes a financial investment in the future, then that’s an added bonus.’
Online bidding for the Pop Culture Auction at Sotheby’s opens online from 29 August 2024, accompanied by a dedicated exhibition in the New Bond Street galleries from Monday 9 September.
