Cobain’s Christmas card sells for $16,200

A Christmas card made by late grunge rocker Kurt Cobain when he was just six years old sold at auction for 16,200 dollars last weekend, organisers said.

A drawing Cobain made in high school of ex-US president Ronald Reagan raised another 14,400 dollars, while an MTV music award won by the Nirvana guitarist fetched 9,600 dollars at the sale in Monterey, California.

Cobain, who committed suicide in 1994, for his song “Smells Like Teen Spirit, organisers Julien Entertainment said, won the MTV music award. The items were part of a haul of 300 items of celebrity memorabilia that went under the hammer on Saturday.

A Golden Globe movie award won by the 1959 film “Ben Hur” sold for 16,800 dollars, more than twice the 8,000 dollars that had been expected for the statuette.

A copy of the book “The Wizard of Oz,” which had been signed by cast members of the 1939 movie, sold for 16,800 dollars while a 1950s “Superman” television costume fetched 24,000 dollars.

An invitation to the 1964 Beatles’ film “A Hard Day’s Night” that was autographed by band members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Star, brought in 24,000 dollars from a collector.

But the star item that had been heralded ahead of the sale, a Grammy Award presented to the Beatles for their recording of “A Hard Day’s Night,” was withdrawn from sale at the last minute.

Organisers said the award, which had been expected to sell for at least 60,000 dollars, was taken off the catalogue after the Fab Four’s Apple Records Corp contacted auctioneers and asked them not to sell it. “If we had not received the last-minute request from Apple, the Beatles’ Grammy would certainly have sold for 120,000 dollars based on bids received by phone and proxy,” said Julien Entertainment’s owner Darren Julien.

In a separate auction conducted by the same company last weekend, a bidder paid 12,000 for an invitation to attend Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s annual Halloween party, while another paid 2,400 dollars for one of Hef’s famous dressing gowns. afp

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