Just before performing his first moonwalk, his signature dance step, Michael Jackson threw his hat to the side of the stage: this hat was sold 40 years later at an auction in Paris.
It was March 25, 1983 during the 25th anniversary of the famous Motown label, in their song Billie Jean. The sequence will be broadcast on May 16, 1983 on the American channel NBC.
This hat, a Fedora, is estimated at between 60,000 and 100,000 euros and will be the attraction of a sale of some 200 cave objects at the Hôtel Drouot, the main Parisian auction house, on September 26.
A thousand lives of a hat
This event is organized by the Artpèges gallery and the Lemon Auction auction house, which, last year, caused a sensation with Noel Gallagher’s guitar, destroyed the night of Oasis’ separation, sold for 385,500 euros with shipping costs.
“It is a certain Adam Kelly, whose plaque we have for the show on March 25, 1983, who picked up this hat that day, thinking that the singer’s staff would come to pick it up, but no,” Arthur Perault, general director, told AFP. . and co-founder of Artpèges.
“Adam Kelly kept it for several years before selling it to an American collector, then this hat reappeared in a European collection and now it is here in our hands,” he continues.
“It is the first Fedora hat” worn by the “King of Pop” (1958-2009) during a performance, emphasizes Arthur Perault. But the price of the hat is, however, lower than that of another piece on sale that day, a guitar by bluesman T-Bone Walker (1910-1975), a great influence on BB King, Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Page or even Eric Clapton. This six-string instrument, of which only 22 examples were produced in 1949, is valued between 100,000 and 150,000 euros.
“Market that is maturing”
“The market for vintage guitars is high and that of Michael Jackson has slowed down due to several factors, such as the sale of counterfeits and the accusations against him,” explains the co-founder of Artpèges.
The documentaries, contested by his heirs, periodically revive accusations of child abuse, denied during his lifetime by the singer, who was never convicted of such acts.
Recently, a series of auctions of thousands of objects that belonged to Freddie Mercury reached 46.5 million euros, a record for a collection of this type, according to the auction house Sotheby’s. Including the piano on which the artist composed almost everything, from Bohemian Rhapsody, left for 2 million euros. Bidders came from 76 countries in Europe, North America and Latin America and buyers from 50 countries.
For this Michael Jackson Fedora, Arthur Perault is “very optimistic” and expects an “international clientele”: “Although we must always be cautious, we are in a movement that only rises towards rock memories.” “It is a market that is maturing, certain objects are compared to Picasso, such as the Höfner (bass that disappeared 54 years ago) by Paul McCartney,” he says.
More unusual, there will also be a piece of the wall of the Bus Palladium, a Parisian club (opened in 1965, closed in 2022), signed among others by Carl Barât, Pete Doherty (Les Libertines), Jean-Benoît Dunckel (Air), The Dandy Warhols, Beth Ditto (Gossip), estimated between 5,000 and 8,000 euros.
“Very personally, I hope that this wall remains in France, it is a vestige of our heritage, for all lovers of music and rock,” concludes Arthur Perault.
Source: BFM TV
