auction
Handwritten Bowie lyrics are up for auction
Musician, actor, innovator, icon: David Bowie. photo
© Maurizio Gambarini/dpa
Handwritten David Bowie song lyrics are worth a fortune. Now two of these music historical documents from the Ziggy Stardust era are being auctioned off.
Handwritten text lines of Popstar David Bowie for two of his songs are to be auctioned in Great Britain this Tuesday. The auction house Omega Auctions estimates the value of the music historical document at 50,000 to 100,000 pounds (57,540 to 115,080 euros).
On the irregularly cut paper are the lyrics to “Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide” and “Suffragette City”, both from the 1972 album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”. A handwritten lyric page by Bowie Hit “Starman” had already been auctioned by Omega for 165,000 pounds. The Briton died in 2016 at the age of 69.
According to an attached letter, Bowie had given the page now up for auction to the original owner, along with other original texts that have not survived. “These texts were acquired by the current owner in the early 1980s and loaned to the V&A in 2013,” the auction house says. The sheet was then part of an exhibition at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A), which was on display worldwide between 2013 and 2018.
In total, hundreds of musical artifacts will be offered at the auction. These include a booklet that belonged to Noel Gallagher of Oasis and contains lyrics to several of the band’s songs such as “She’s Electric” and “Champagne Supernova”, as well as a page with handwritten lyrics by Doors frontman Jim Morrison, as well as guitars, amplifiers and scores various musicians.