Fans of Jacques Brel battled to buy the singer’s possessions, including guitars, photos and manuscripts, at a Sotheby’s auction last night in Paris.
Admirers of the Belgian-born star of French chanson spent a combined 1.03 million euros ($1.4 million), beating a presale estimate of as much as 470,000 euros. Only one lot was unsold at the sale, which coincided with the 30th anniversary of Brel’s death and faced opposition from some of his family.
Other recent sales at Sotheby’s, the world’s largest publicly traded auction house, have missed estimates because of the global financial meltdown. The Brel memorabilia sold well because the buyers consisted of fans, national institutions and specialist collectors, said Alain Renner, vice-president of Sotheby’s France, in an interview after the sale.
“It wasn’t just a typical auction”, said Renner, 63, who also was the auctioneer. “It was a sale very much based on emotions, with people buying objects they had some form of attachment to”.
Highlights of the collection were a squared-paper notebook Brel used for a draft of “Amsterdam”, one of his most well-known songs, which fetched 108,750 euros; the manuscript of his 1967 musical “L’Homme de la Mancha”, which went for 23,550 euros and his pilot’s license, which raised 34,350 euros.
“It’s breaking my heart to see these items sold” said Jean-Brice Wallon, 45, who said he is a distant cousin of Brel. “They represent the memory, the history of my family. I am sad I couldn’t buy anything. The prices went up too much.” (Bloomberg)