The 'Rocket Man' hitmaker is set to sell his arts and mementos he previously kept in his Atlanta house after he and husband David Furnish got rid of the property last year.
- Jan 20, 2024
AceShowbiz - Sir Elton John is offloading the contents of his former home in Atlanta, Georgia. The "Rocket Man" star and his husband David Furnish let go of the luxury penthouse last year for $7.2 million and now they are selling off the multi-million dollar art collection which previously adorned the walls along with sculptures and instruments as well as the singer's jewellery and clothes which were previously housed there.
According to Furnish, the musician started collecting beautiful things after conquering his addictions and buying the Atlanta apartment back in 1991. "When Elton goes down the rabbit hole with something, he goes very, very deep and immerses himself," Furnish said in a statement given to Christie's - the auction house behind the sale.
"He's like a sponge, soaking up as much information as he can about an art form, artist, type of music, or sports team ... Atlanta opened this odyssey for Elton as a collector because prior to getting sober, he had completely emptied out his main home in Windsor and sold the contents. So he was starting with a clean slate. Elton very much looked at the world differently, and new things spoke to him in a way that they hadn't before."
Elton added of his collection, "It may not be everyone's taste, but it's certainly my taste. My apartment in Atlanta was like my man cave full of things that I loved, mementos from everywhere in the world, things that gave me inspiration every day."
Highlights from the art collection include a piece by Bansky called "Flower Thrower Triptych" which is expected to fetch between $1 million and $1.5 million while a custom Damien Hirst painting titled "Your Song" which he gave to Elton and David in 2008 could make as much as $450,000.
A set of Andy Warhol's Male Nude prints has been given an estimate of $30,000 to $50,000. Also going under the hammer is Elton's 1990 Bentley two-door convertible ($25,000 to $30,000), a collector's edition pinball machine ($10,000 to $15,000) and the Yamaha conservatory grand piano on which the singer wrote music for Broadway shows "Billy Elliot" and "Aida" ($50,000).
Hundreds of Versace silk shirts and a lavish crockery set will also go under the hammer along with works by famed photographers Irving Penn and Herb Ritts.
The auction - titled The Collection of Sir Elton John, Goodbye Peachtree Road - will take place over the course of several sales Christie's Rockefeller Centre in New York City beginning on February 21. The collection is expected to make around $10 million.
