(Above: Prince signature from 1985, sold at auction for $4,165)
There’s still much purple passion
Devoted Prince fans turned out for our latest auction of the music legend’s memorabilia on Feb. 15. From museums to private collectors, bidding went into the night for many of our elite items. Here are the Prince auction results.
The top sales item was a shrink-wrapped original 1987 U.S. first pressing of “The Black Album,” which garnered a price of $42,298. The infamous work, pulled immediately after a cancelled release, has been seldom heard by anyone besides Prince himself and a few industry insiders.
Other stand-out sales included several items handwritten by the artist. Handwritten draft lyrics for “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man,” with slightly different words than the final hit, went for a top bid of $20,886. His handwritten acceptance speech for the 1988 Minnesota Music Awards attained $12,251, while a sweet apology note that implored “I’m sorry—please don’t hate me. Prince” achieved a final price of $11,257. A lengthy letter to Rolling Stone music critic Tom Moon, containing incredible insight into Prince’s approach to writing, garnered a princely sum of $11,004.
Several objects with Prince’s musical pedigree were successful. Prince’s stage-used Purple Rain Tour microphone went for an impressive $22,869. There were several tambourines, with the top one – Prince’s rehearsal-used “Purple Rain” tambourine – going for $6,487.
Many bidders wanted an item that had been worn by the fashion-forward musician. Top memorabilia in that category included Prince’s personally worn “Diamonds and Pearls” cufflinks ($7,840); his personally worn purple leather gloves ($6,373); and a faux-gemmed paisley broach ($5,834).
See the complete list of Prince auction results here.
“The Prince Estate is not affiliated, associated, or connected with RR Auction or this auction, nor has it endorsed, authenticated or sponsored the items available for auction. Further, The Prince Estate has not licensed any of its intellectual property to RR Auction.”