Kurt Cobain Cardigan Sells for over $100,000

Someone also bought one of the Nirvana singer's dirty, old pizza plates for over $30,000

BY Brock ThiessenPublished May 20, 2019

One of Kurt Cobain's old cardigans has fetched a seriously pretty penny at auction. The sweater — worn by the Nirvana singer during his last photoshoot with the band — sold for a whopping $75,000 USD (over $100,000 CAD) at auction this weekend. What's more, one of his old dirty pizza plates sold for $23,000 USD (over $30,000 CAD).

The cardigan — which Cobain wore at a pre-In Utero photo sessions in the summer of 1993 — was expected to sell for somewhere between $10,000 and $20,000, according to Julien's Auctions. But obviously someone was willing to pay a lot more for that for the item.

The photo of Cobain in the cardigan was shot by photographer Jesse Frohman and featured in the photo book Kurt Cobain: The Last Session, Rolling Stone points out.

"The shoot was meant to take place in Central Park in New York City, but due to Cobain being sick just hours before, the shoot was relocated to the basement of the hotel where the band was staying," Julien's Auctions said of the item. "Cobain showed up three hours late to the shoot and immediately asked for a bucket due to his nausea."

According to rock'n'roll legend, Courtney Love gave the cardigan to "an acquaintance" at Cobain's funeral. However, it's unclear who actually decided to now sell the sweater.

And if you think $75,000 USD is a lot to pay for an old sweater, Cobain's famed MTV Unplugged cardigan previously sold for $137,000 USD at auction, making this latest sale seem almost a bargain.

Also at the auction, an old handwritten Nirvana setlist from an April 1990 concert in Washington, D.C., that Cobain had written on a paper plate sold for $23,000 USD — more than 10 times its pre-auction estimate of $2,000.

"Cobain had eaten some pizza before the show and proceeded to write the set list on the plate he had been eating his pizza on," the auction house said of the item.


 

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