The annual auction market for rock and film memorabilia has grown from about £200,000 in 1982 to £20 million today. Are celebrity mementoes the new antiques?
Well of course the mementos are not the new antiques, they are by and large just another area of the collectables market. There is no doubting the rise in interest as can be seen by the increasing amount of space given over to such things in the new Miller's Collectables handbook. And in all honesty I think that the increase quoted is way under what the market is worth today. I would estimate that the market for rock and pop memorabilia is vastly in excess of £30 million, without the addition of the film area. Nevertheless it's good that there is such strong interest.
The article is, in part, about the British Antique Dealers' Association fair which starts next week in Duke of York Square, Chelsea, more details HERE
How much is a single strand of Elvis Presley’s hair worth? Well not as much as a seller seemed to think. The single strand of Elvis Presley's hair fetched £400 at auction a couple of days ago, but a week ago it had failed to make the £600 reserve that had been placed upon it. The strand is mounted in the centre of a gold disc inscribed, ‘The King's Authentic Hair,’ together with a photograph of the singer and a certificate of authenticity on the reverse. Last October a clump of Elvis's hair sold at auction in Chicago for $15,000 dollars so is this single strand taken from the clump? If it is, how many strands did they get?
I've just had an email from a friend of mine who wrote a book about Sinatra and 'knows people' in the Sinatra collecting field and he says that it is more likely to be worth around $1,500. About 10% of the Roadshow estimate.
On the PBS Antiques Roadshow site that supports the US TV series they have, this week, posted a slide show about a 1976 letter from Frank Sinatrawritten in response to a columnist in the Chicago Daily News. Sinatra famously had many a long running spat with journalists that dated all the way back to the 1940s. This letter from Sinatra, that you can read HERE, was addressed to Pulitzer Prize winner, Mike Royko and it certainly pulls no punches. Royko put the letter up for auction and it was bought by the lady who took it along to the Antiques Roadshow. She paid $400 for it, which Royko donated to the Salvation Army. It was valued last year at $15,000 which seems a little over-valued to me - but there's no doubting it's provenance nor its uniqueness.
This picture was sent to me recently by a friend asking what I could tell him about the bronzes. Apparently the picture was taken at Sothebys in 1969 when this bronze was sold. They were cast in 1964 by the sculptor, David Wynes, the same man who did the Boy with a Dolphin on Cheyne Walk, the Fred Perry bronze outside the Centre Court at Wimbledon, and the Queen Elizabeth Gates by Hyde Park Corner.
According to Wynne he contacted Brian Epstein asking if the Beatles would sit for him. Epstein was not confident they would and so Wynne went to Paris, where the band was staying at the Hôtel George V. "Beatlemania was at its height and there were police everywhere. I went up to their room, and found they were not too keen at first. But eventually Ringo said OK. The clay model I made seemed to meet with their approval, so I went on and did them all. After that we got on rather well. I took them out to dinner, which they found useful because I could speak French."
Six casts were eventually made and all soon sold, with Wynne keeping a proof for himself.The proof sold in 2004 for £75,000
This picture was sent to me recently by a friend asking what I could tell him about the bronzes. Apparently the picture was taken at Sothebys in 1969 when this bronze was sold. They were cast in 1964 by the sculptor, David Wynes, the same man who did the Boy with a Dolphin on Cheyne Walk, the Fred Perry bronze outside the Centre Court at Wimbledon, and the Queen Elizabeth Gates by Hyde Park Corner.
