NEW YORK, Oct 27, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A quarter century after grunge’s
enigmatic rhapsodist took his own life, Kurt Cobain’s iconic cigarette-singed
cardigan worn during Nirvana’s 1993 “Unplugged” performance has sold for
$334,000.
The tattered, olive-green, Manhattan-brand, button-up sweater, which has
never been washed since Cobain wore it, came with dark stains and a burn
hole.
The seller, Garrett Kletjian, owner of Forty7 Motorsports, bought it four
years ago for $137,500.
“This cardigan, it’s the holy grail of any article of clothing that he ever
wore,” said Darren Julien, CEO and president of Julien’s Auctions.
“Kurt created the grunge look; he didn’t wear show clothes,” Julien told
AFP at a New York exhibition preview.
The auction house had predicted it would fetch $200,000-300,000.
The music cable channel MTV began its “Unplugged” series in 1989, recording
live performances of acts that generally played their normally electrified
music on sparse acoustics.
Cobain’s haunting “Unplugged” performance with Nirvana — recorded less
than six months before his suicide at age 27 — is considered one of the most
iconic shows of the series, and was released posthumously.
Already deep into an emotional, drug-addled downward spiral, the depressive
but singular talent with ocean-blue eyes reportedly lamented to “Unplugged”
programmer Amy Finnerty after the set that the audience seemed not to like
the show.
“Kurt,” she told him, “they think you are Jesus Christ.”
Cobain’s left-handed Fender Mustang guitar, which he used during the band’s
“In Utero” tour, sold for $340,000.