Hammer time...
Auctioneer has flogged iconic items from Jacko’s jacket to John Lennon’s stolen guitar
THERE were no Barbies or bikes for Kim and Kanye West’s six-year-old daughter North on Christmas morning.
Instead, she ripped the wrapping off a jacket worn by Michael Jackson at Liz Taylor’s 65th birthday party.
And holding the gavel at the Beverly Hills auction was Co Westmeath man Martin Nolan.
He made headlines in 2016 when he sold the most iconic Marilyn Monroe piece of all time – a slinky fleshcoloured dress she wore to sing happy birthday to JFK at Madison Square Garden in 1962 – for a record-breaking €4.3million.
And it was the Athlone man who made rock ‘n’ roll history when he sold John Lennon’s stolen 1962 J-160E Gibson acoustic guitar for €2.1million – and the ripped, stained grey cardigan worn by Kurt Cobain during the MTV Unplugged live session for €334,000.
The chief of Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills said: “A guy bought the cardigan in 2015 for €123,000 and it went straight into his vault.
VALUE
“Even his kids never saw it. It was a cardigan Courtney Love had gifted to a family member.
“He brought it back to us and we sold it for double the money.
“At the time it was a record amount. The reality is Kurt spent maybe a fiver on that.
“The stains and cigarette burns only enhanced its value.
“Details like some make-up on the collar of Michael Jackson’s jacket – people just love that as it gets them so close to their heroes.”
When Martin sold John Lennon’s instrument in 2015, no guitar had ever sold for more than a million.
He added: “It was stolen from him in 1963 at the Christmas shows in London and ended up in San Diego with a normal blue-collar worker guy who played music and bought it for €225.
“He had it for 47 years until someone said it looked like the one Lennon had so the process of identifying began.
“Yoko Ono was called in and we determined it was his stolen Gibson – we matched the serial number and the grain, which is like the DNA of the guitar.” Martin was also holding the gavel when Julien’s sold Michael Jackson’s Moonwalk glove for €125,000 and his red Thriller jacket for €1.8million. He also flogged Ringo Starr’s first ever drum kit – a Ludwig Oyster Black Pearl three-piece – for €2.1million when the Beatles’ drummer was “downsizing” and George Harrison’s guitar for close to €600,000. And there’s another remarkable story behind why Ringo called Martin to sell 800 pieces from the world’s most collectible band. He said: “I met Ringo Starr in the British Airways lounge in London when I was flying to Japan with a Michael Jackson exhibition.
“I said hi, gave him my card, and three months later his wife called for an appraisal and we ended up doing our biggest auction yet.”
Martin, who would one day love to sell the magical ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard Of Oz, used to chat to superstars when he worked as a doorman in New York’s Hilton Hotel.
But these days the A-listers give him their house keys along with the run of their homes. He added: “We sold an Elvis belt in 2006 – his friend Jack Lord, from Hawaii, 50, when he died, I was called down to their home on the water in Honolulu.
“On the wall was a framed belt and a framed gold pistol – both gifts from Elvis.
RECORD
“The belt Elvis wore at the Aloha concert in Hawaii in 1973, he’d gifted to Jack.
“We sold it for a record €65,000 and the pistol for €30,000.
“Then in 2018 the Indian guy brought it back to auction and we sold it for over €300,000. The under-bidder this time was the same one who had lost out in 2006. The next time it comes back to auction it will go for a million.
“I did the auction for BB King last year. We sold thousands of items – guitars, jackets, shoes, jewellery, rings, all straight from his home in Las Vegas to the auction house and to the buyers’ homes.
“I go in, look around, sort, root, look in the attic and root for the treasures.
“We sold BB’S Lucille guitar limited edition by Gibson – custom-made for BB – for €260,000.”
Recently, Martin spent a lot of time with Olivia Newton John putting
together an auction of 500 pieces in November. Sandy’s Grease leather jacket went under the hammer for €243,000 but the anonymous bidder returned it to her so she could re-auction it for a cancer charity.
Martin’s life wasn’t always so glam. After losing their father young, Martin and his six siblings gravitated towards “steady” jobs.
He became a civil servant, working for Teagasc, and studied accountancy.
After a year in Australia, he won a US Greencard in the visa lottery and took his chances there in 1989, starting out as a busboy at the
Hilton and moving up to doorman while training as a stockbroker on Wall Street.
After stints with Merril Lynch and JP Morgan Chase, he made the move of joining a fledgling auction house in LA in 2005.
Back home in Kiltoom, Co Athlone, where he tries to visit once a month, Martin’s mother Kitty sits fascinated as her middle child of seven holds court at the kitchen
Martin wants to sell Wizard Of Oz slippers table. He laughs: “Sylvester Stallone was one of the first people I met when I was at the Hilton then fast forward to 2015 and I’m sitting in Sylvester’s house talking about doing an
auction.
“You never know where life is going to take you if you’re not afraid to follow opportunities and go for it, fantastic things can happen.”
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