Omega Auctions are to offer one of the finest known pieces of David Bowie memorabilia, a set of handwritten Jean Genie lyrics, in their 7th February Audio Equipment and Music Memorabilia Auction, with a £50,000 - £70,000 estimate.
The one page sheet shows 18 lines of handwritten lyrics to Bowie's Jean Genie, his 1972 song inspired by Iggy Pop.
Bowie has signed and dated the sheet of lyrics at the top of the page.
The provenance states that the lyrics were originally gifted to Neal Peters, who was the founder of the official David Bowie fan club in the USA.
The lyrics have been appeared at auction a few times in recent years, firstly at Christie's South Kensington, London on 24th June 2010 when they sold for £9,375.
They later appeared at a Bonham's, London sale in July 2013, this time selling for £18,750 - a remarkable 100% return in just 3 years.
Most recently the lyrics were sold by Paddle8 in February 2017 with a $50,000 - $70,000 estimate.
These lyrics were actually the first ever set of Bowie handwritten lyrics to appear at auction, when they first appeared for sale at Christie's in 2010.
Others have since appeared, and Omega themselves auctioned Bowie's handwritten lyrics to Starman in September 2022, ultimately selling them for £203,500, smashing the estimate of £30,000 - £40,000, and making them the most expensive item of David Bowie memorabilia ever sold at auction.
Update: David Bowie’s Jean Genie handwritten lyrics sold for £57,000.
About your Author:
Adrian Roose has over 30 years’ experience covering all aspects of the rare stamp & memorabilia industry during which he has sold over £50m of unique items, helping build collections for Royalty, household name celebrities and 1,000s of collectors around the world.
Adrian was previously a Director at Stanley Gibbons, a Board Member of Stampex, and Executive Director of Paul Fraser Collectibles, PFC Auctions and JustCollecting, prior to founding The Memorabilia Club.