Prince’s ex-wife is among the former Purple intimates offering possessions – including two tapes of very early recordings – at an online auction this week
Prince is famed for seeking both privacy and complete control over his output, so he’s not likely to be pleased about an online auction scheduled for 17 March. Nate D Sanders Auctions in Los Angeles is putting up 95 lots of Prince-related items – including unreleased music and personal possessions – from the collections of Prince’s first wife, Mayte Garcia, former manager Owen Husney and guitarist Dez Dickerson.
For musical obsessives, there are two fascinating items. The first is a three-track demo tape recorded in winter 1976 and spring 1977, featuring Just As Long As We’re Together, My Love Is Forever and Jelly Jam – accompanied by a press pack, one of only 15 made. The starting price for that is $6,500. The second is a tape, from 1978, of six early songs, three unreleased and three that would later be recorded for official release, including an early version of Sometimes It Snows in April. You’ll need a minimum of $20,000 (£13,900) to bid for that.
“Prince originally gave me the cassette in late 1978 because he wanted me to listen to a record he had recorded on side A, [with] a female-fronted funk band whose name I don’t remember now,” Dickerson said. “Some time during the next year or so, I used the A side to record some scratch bass and guitar parts for a rock/power pop demo, recording over the original content. You can still hear a snippet of the funk record at the end of the side. On side B, Prince had his work versions of six songs, which I had left intact for unknown reasons. Obviously, we now know it preserved a piece of musical history.”
For those of a more prurient nature, the diamond engagement ring and handwritten marriage proposal Prince gave to Garcia are for sale with an opening bid of $100,000. The proposal takes the form of five handwritten notes on five pink, heart-shaped notes,“which Prince used to lead [Garcia] on a romantic journey to the ring”.
Also for sale is an array of the musician’s clothing – more suitable for the small-figured man – jewellery, accessories (including a pair of handcuffs used during stage performances of The Most Beautiful Girl in the World), and 36 lots of tableware from Prince and Garcia’s wedding. If you’re scrabbling around to come up with cash for your Prince memorabilia collection, the cheapest of those items are the five saucers featuring a keyboard design; bidding starts at $1,000 each. If you are a little more flush, the opening bid on a 50-piece set of wedding china is $50,000.
Source: The Guardian
