Cobain cardigan up for auction

Source:AFP Published: 2019/10/22 19:03:40

Kurt Cobain Photo: IC



A quarter century after grunge's enigmatic rhapsodist took his own life, Kurt Cobain's iconic cigarette-singed cardigan worn during Nirvana's 1993 Unplugged performance is up for sale.

The tattered, drab olive green button-up sweater with dark stains and a burn hole could go for at least $200,000 to $300,000, according to pre-bidding estimates from Julien's Auctions, which says rock'n'roll memorabilia has become a major investor's market.

The thrifted cardigan is the toast of this fall's Icons & Idols: Rock'N'Roll auction organized by the house, which will also sell off the late Nirvana frontman's left-handed teal Fender Mustang guitar played during the In Utero tour.

"This cardigan, it's the holy grail of any article of clothing that he ever wore," said Darren Julien, CEO and president of the house.

"Kurt created the grunge look; he didn't wear show clothes," Julien told AFP at a New York exhibition preview of the auction, which will kick off Friday and end the following day, with bidding in person and online.

The music cable channel MTV began its Unplugged series in 1989, recording live performances of acts that generally played their normally electrified music on sparse acoustics.

Cobain's haunting Unplugged performance with Nirvana - recorded less than six months before his suicide at age 27 - is considered one of the most iconic shows of the series, and was released posthumously.

Already deep into an emotional, drug-addled downward spiral, the depressive but singular talent with ocean-blue eyes reportedly lamented to Unplugged programmer Amy Finnerty after the set that the audience seemed not to like the show.

"Kurt," she told him, "they think you are Jesus Christ."

It's the second time the Manhattan-brand sweater has gone up for auction, having sold in November 2015 for $137,500 via Julien's.

The house originally acquired the oversized cardigan from the nanny of Cobain's daughter with Courtney Love, Frances Bean, now 27 years old.

The house's CEO said interest in the rock'n'roll market has seen a particular uptick in recent years, as the genre ages and its memorabilia become artifacts.

"I've always said that the rock'n'roll market is the new fine art market," Julien said. "Millennials are starting to collect, and they're not collecting Monets and Picassos," he noted.

"Wall Street guys" are among the major buyers, Julien said, adding that "hedge funds even are starting to invest in rock'n'roll artifacts as a way to diversify their client's portfolios."

A paper plate Cobain had eaten pizza off of - and then written a Nirvana set list on for a performance at Washington's intimate 9:30 club - earlier this year went for $22,400.




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