On November 24 at Christie’s auction house in New York City, the unthinkable will happen: Rock’n’roll will sell out. No, the Stooges aren’t covering Madonna on live television (hey, wait a minute…). Instead, the high-end auctioneers will be selling a treasure trove of punk and rock’n’roll collectibles and artifacts as part of the Pop Culture: Punk/Rock collection.
The auction will feature over 300 pieces of memorabilia for your bidding pleasure, including items from Nirvana, Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, the Rolling Stones, Blondie, the Velvet Underground, New Order, Devo, the Smiths, and the Cure.
The highlights: Kurt Cobain’s childhood bass guitar, original demo tapes for Jimi Hendrix’s landmark album Electric Ladyland, a portable organ played by John Lennon during the Beatles’ legendary appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, and original artwork for classic records such as the Beastie Boys’ Licensed to Ill and Metallica’s Master of Puppets. A bit of sad news, head-bangers: That Metallica artwork has an estimated worth of $20,000-$30,000 (and it’s not even the most expensive piece on display!). Maybe you’d be better off catching the metal titans on their current world tour.
Kurt Cobain’s childhood bass guitar [$60,000-80,000]
Blondie poster with “One Way or Another” lyrics [$1,000-1,500]
Rolling Stones gold record for Ruby Tuesday [$4,000-6,000]
Sex Pistols “God Save The Queen” T-shirt [$1,000-1,500]
1959 Fender Musicmaster guitar signed by over 170 musicians, including Johnny Cash, David Bowie, and Iggy Pop [$6,000-8,000]
