CLASSIC POP MOMENTS
ELTON JOHN NETS MILLIONS AFTER AUCTIONING OFF BELONGINGS
© Getty
SEPTEMBER 1988
Elton John fans with a bit of dough were in seventh heaven between 6 and 9 September 1988 when Sotheby’s hosted a four-day auction of the singer’s cast-off clothes, jewellery and other artefacts. More than 2,000 items were put up for sale and the entire collection netted Elton and the auction house a whopping $8.2 million. Among the items up for auction were a painting by Magritte of a blue fish wrapped in pearls ($119,700), a pair of pottery busts of Queen Elizabeth II, the giant Doc Marten boots the singer had worn in The Who’s big screen version of Tommy and a pair of Cartier silver baskets he’d been using as soap dishes. “The house was so crammed full of stuff, that even if I’d have got rid of half of it, we’d never have been able to redecorate and make it a home,” John told TV-am about why he decided to have the clear-out. “And ever since I’ve been in America it’s been a museum.” Elton was on tour in Miami at the time, but did, according to The New York Times, phone the auction house each day to see how the sale was progressing.