Peter Hook Is Selling Off His Joy Division Legacy

A massive auction will take place in 2019

BY Brock ThiessenPublished Dec 27, 2018

U.K. bass hero Peter Hook has revealed he will be auctioning off his massive collection of Joy Division memorabilia.

Following a less than smooth exit from New Order in 2007, Hook is launching the so-called "Peter Hook Signature Collection," which will collect various items from his time in legendary precursor band Joy Division.

As Hook explained to Rolling Stone, this includes everything from a replica of late Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis' Vox Phantom guitar from the "Love Will Tear Us Apart" video, a signed copy of early EP An Ideal for Living, a ticket to the Sex Pistols show at the Free Trade Hall where Hook and Bernard Sumner conceived the band and more.

A full catalog of all the items up for auction will arrive online on January 21, while hard copies can be ordered over here. The exhibition will be on view at Omega Auctions in the U.K. beginning in late February and the auction will be held on March 2.

"I've watched Ian Curtis' house sell, and I've watched Ian Curtis' kitchen table sell," Hook explained to Rolling Stone of his decision to sell off his Joy Division legacy. "People go nuts for it, and I'm like the king in his castle counting all his gold. It's just quite odd really when you actually sit there thinking, 'What the hell are you doing keeping hold of Joy Division?' I realized that the relationship between us all was never gonna happen, and I was holding on to something for the wrong reason."

Hook explained he has lent the items from his collection to various museums over the years, but also often found himself wondering why he was holding on to it all. "It's all over me house, all over the place," he said, adding that the recent lawsuit with his former New Order/Joy Division bandmates partly led to his decision to sell off the memorabilia.

"The court cases and resulting fracas between the group members certainly didn't help," Hook said. "It made me feel a little bit detached from Joy Division in a way, and it also made me realize that the most important thing for me was to have the music and to have the fans and to be honest, we're very happy together."

As previously reported, Hook had sued his former bandmates over the rights to various Joy Division/New Order assets and reached an out-of-court settlement in 2017.

Latest Coverage