Internet bidders drop a cool $445,000 in Dec. 5-6 auction of Dick Clark’s music memorabilia

NEW YORK – The unquestioned provenance and historical cachet associated with Dick Clark’s personal collection of music memorabilia ignited a firestorm of bidding in a Dec. 5 and 6 auction that was nearly 50 percent sold through LiveAuctioneers.com in association with eBay Live Auctions. Online bidders proved to be ferocious competitors in Guernsey’s 945-lot, no-reserve sale, prevailing on such iconic lots as Madonna’s black-tasseled, gold-sequined bustier from the Open Your Heart Video, $11,400; Michael Jackson’s Austrian-crystal-studded glove, $7,800; and Bo Diddley’s autographed square-shape guitar with travel-stickered case, $9,600.

In all, Internet bidders added $445,290 to the sale’s coffers, with the big money spent on early John Lennon and Beatles-related material, including an autographed 9 inch by 7 inch cartoon paper cutout of Lennon’s head. Together with cutouts representing the three other Beatles, it had served as a “welcome” decoration on a TWA 707 plane that transported the Fab Four during a widely documented tour. The cutout signed by Lennon garnered a winning Internet bid of $30,000; while the Paul McCartney cutout from the same series achieved $11,400 online. Autographed by both John Lennon and Yoko Ono, a framed promotional copy of the couple’s Double Fantasy LP was another coveted entry in the sale, earning $9,000 via LiveAuctioneers.

The King reigned online, as well. Elvis Presley’s personal script for the film Love Me Tender was purchased through LiveAuctioneers and eBay Live for $5,400. A wide-lapeled blue suit designed for Presley of stretch gabardine to allow the star to perform karate kicks and jumps onstage was bid to $10,200.

Postsale statistics indicate 1,612 people signed up to bid in the auction through LiveAuctioneers.com. The electronic catalog for the first session, alone, attracted 62,629 unique visitors and 84,663 page hits.

A generous percentage of profits from the sale of the Dick Clark collection will be donated to the T.J. Martell Foundation, a music-industry-related organization that funds cancer and AIDS research. “We were thrilled to be able to play a role in raising such a significant amount of money for this worthy cause,” said LiveAuctioneers’ CEO Julian R. Ellison. “To be associated with such a great philanthropic effort and a living legend like Dick Clark will always be a highlight of LiveAuctioneers’ history.”

To view complete results for the Dick Clark auction or any other sale with real-time Internet bidding through LiveAuctioneers, log on to www.liveauctioneers.com and utilize the free archive search. Founded in November 2002, LiveAuctioneers.com provides real-time Internet bidding services to 527 auction houses worldwide. The company is based in New York City and has agent offices in several states and the United Kingdom


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