In a previous blog I told you that Ozzy Osbourne was cleaning house.
Like many stars before them, the rocker and his wife Sharon put hundreds of items up for bid in an online auction. But, no one could have predicted (auction experts included) that the Osbourne family’s excessive would make history.
According to Julien’s Auction House, which ran the charity sale over the weekend, heavy metal fans were outbidding serious art dealers who specialize in high–end auctions. Ozzy’s loyal metalheads snatched up items, including a coat with embroidered bats, sneakers with skulls on them and one-of-a-kind sculpture by a world-renowned French artist.
According to auction officials, it is a rare day when pop culture fans outbid fine art dealers. But, it happened two days ago when an Ozzy fan from Germany was willing to fork over more than $10,000 for a sculpture that once sat in the Beverly Hills mansion formerly owned by the rocker and wife, which was prominently featured on MTV’s reality series “The Osbournes.”
Auction officials say the items featured on Osbourne’s hit MTV show were the most popular. For instance, the aforementioned bat coat sold for $3,300, the skull sneakers brought in $2,625 and a pair of Ozzy’s trademark round glasses went for $5,250. If you think that’s outrageous consider that some die-hard Ozzy fan forked over $1,625 for an oversized coffee cup that Sharon Osbourne sipped out of while the MTV cameras were rolling.
Still unfazed? Perhaps this will raise an eyebrow or two—-a used dog bed given to Sharon by Elton John brought in $2,375. And a limited edition painting that hung in the Osbourne’s formal dining room raised more than $5,000.
But, the item that brought in the most cash turned out to be the one piece that the Prince of Darkness vowed he would never sell—-a prized pool table that he insisted he would not part with because he cherished the memories of playing with his kids as they were growing up. Rumor has it Sharon finally got her husband to put it up on the auction block and it brought in $11,250.
All tolled the auction brought in $800,000–more than twice the amount Julien predicted. Proceeds from the sale will go to The Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Not bad for an event that was billed as a “celebrity garage sale.”