Bob Marley’s 1970’s Santa Barbara Bowl shirt sold recently for $33,275 in a themed auction. My friends at RR Auctions in Boston contacted me in early November because of this shirt’s unique Santa Barbara connection: Marley graced the stage with a shirt made by his mother on July 23, 1978, during his North American Kaya Tour with the Wailers. This auction took place as part of a themed sale, The Marvels of Modern Music. The auction house stated that the “Bowl Concert” happened on the night of Haile Selassie’s birthday. Marley honored Selassie with a special performance of “Sun is Shining.” Read my November 24th article to learn more about this simple, colorful shirt.
Themed Auctions Great Way to Sell & Buy
As we trudge through this pandemic, themed auctions are a great way to sell and buy. Because a theme, such as “Marvels of Modern Music,” brings together a captive computer audience competing for the same objects. A cryptic letter written by Beatle John Lennon, signed “John & Yoko, ’71,” on Apple letterhead, sold for $31,251 in the same auction as Marley’s shirt. The top seller at this auction was a $108,253 sale of Bob Dylan’s handwritten lyrics for “Blowin’ in the Wind,” one page on St. Regis of New York’s letterhead.
Bid in this Themed Auction TODAY
An interesting themed auction by the same auction house opens December 10th: Early Apple Computer stuff. For example, an Apple-1 computer with original box signed by Steve Wozniak (Woz), restored by a vintage Apple expert (who knew?), fully operational, a real 1976 working computer. Jobs and Wozniak produced 200 Apple-1 computers and sold 175. I had no idea until I did this research that they designed the Apple-1 as a “kit,” to be soldered together by the purchaser. However, the 200 end products Apple sold fully assembled in 1976, one of many firsts for Jobs and the Woz.
In 2005 the owner/consignor of this unit increased the value of this ‘vintage’ computer greatly by searching out Mr. Wozniak for his signature on the original box. And the computer includes everything originally sold with it. Of particular interest to me is the graphic art on the Apple-1 cassette interface brochure (note Sir Isaac Newton!). Opening bids start at $50,000 at RR Auction.
What we see in the marketplace in these crisis days
Auctions increasingly target specific interest buyers. If you collect autographs, a few auction houses dedicate themselves to just that material: RR, and Heritage, for example. If you love antique Jewish ritual objects and art, check out J. Greenstein & Co. Auction. If you love antique buttons, House of Button Armchair Auctions offers four online auctions each year.
Collect Zippo lighters? I will find auctions for those too, but Zippo Company monitors the sales, so beware.
Thus if you want to sell, and want a collection to sell fairly effortlessly, don’t rely only on eBay, as in some cases their market is actually too big. The connoisseurs of any given object type will pay more than the general interest buyer. Perhaps try a dedicated themed auction, and if you collect and want to sell a collection, email me, and I’ll let you know if there are upcoming auctions which may maximize your return.
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