Hey, do you have a few hundred thousand dollars and a desire to own a whole bunch of Prince’s stuff? You do?! Well today is a big day for you, because three former Prince confidants — his first wife (Mayte Garcia), his former manager (Owen Husney), and a “collaborator/guitarist” (Dez Dickinson) — are teaming up with Nate D. Sanders auctions in California to do just that. The headline item, for standard collectors, is probably either the cassette tape from the 1970s that contains three unreleased songs or the 1959 Gibson guitar “used by Prince to compose and record early demo tracks.”
But what if you’re a big weirdo who wants Prince’s clothes and personal mementos from his first wedding? Is there anything in this auction for you? Oh, there is. And how!
Do you want, say, the scarf Prince wore to a 1997 taping of Muppets Tonight? Done. Starting bid is $1,000. How about a huge collection of one of a kind outfits worn by Prince, including one that is titled “Prince Gold Sparkle Costume”? Yup, those are in there, too. Or are you looking for rhinestone-covered gold handcuffs that Prince wore to the 1994 Soul Train Awards? Buddy, this auction has you covered.
“But wait,” you say, clearly intrigued but jonesing for something even more personal and strange to explain to people why you now own it. “Does… does this auction have the complete china set from Prince’s first marriage, each item of which has been adorned with the unpronounceable ‘love’ symbol Prince used as his name for a chunk of the 1990s? Does it have that?”
Hang on to your hat, friend. Because…
So there are two things happening here, pulling equally hard in opposite directions. One is that this feels incredibly invasive. That’s the wedding china from someone’s marriage. Strangers to you. It feels weird to be like, “Welllppp, sorry about the divorce, I guess. I bid $50,000.” It’s not so much the fact that his ex is selling it that feels off, it’s just… I don’t know. It feels weird to want something that personal from someone’s private moments just because “When Doves Cry” is the jam.
The other thing that is happening, however, is a burning desire searing its way through my soul to possess one of those fancy tea cups with the Prince symbol on it. Imagine the look on your stupid friend’s face when they ask for a cup of tea some rainy afternoon and you walk out of the kitchen and hand them one of those, real cool-like, like it’s not even a big deal or anything. They’d lose their tiny, dumb minds. Almost makes the invasion of privacy — and $40,000 minimum bid — worth it, just for that.
(Via Variety Latino)
