Auctioning off punk
Is there something truly wrong with selling punk rock memorabilia at Christies?
Fanzine cover, 1976
(www.christies.com)
Christies is venturing into new territory, said Jennifer Peltz in the Associated Press. On Nov. 24, the high-end auction house will field offers on “punk mementos, signaling the collectible status of a brash, anti-authoritarian rock movement that largely thumbed its nose at posterity.” Among the various items up for auction are “publicity photos signed by the Sex Pistols” and “a scrawled flier for one of the Clash's first shows.”
Nothing says “punk rock” like an auction at Christies, said Jen Carlson in Gothamist.com. “Too bad they didn't do this a few years ago, maybe they could have auctioned off CBGB.” This is just “another nail” in the “coffin” of punk rock.
Yes, seeing punk rock memorabilia “for sale through Christie’s Auction House is more than a little bit disturbing,” said Stephen Gerding in Kung Fu Rodeo online. But then again, I’d “love” to get my hands on some of that vintage Clash or Ramones stuff.
“Most punk fans” I know “tend to value their collections” for “musical and sentimental” value, said Ryan Cooper in About.com, not “monetary value”—they would never even consider letting go of it. But hats off to anyone who “can dump a pile of old punk badges out of a shoebox” and “convince some snooty rich guy” that it’s worth a lot of money—that’s “pretty punk rock.”
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2 Comments
Posted by Davis, Wednesday, October 29, 2008, 8:47 pm Punk is and always has been materialistic, vain, and all about getting noticed. Punk has also never had a problem with making money. This just confirms the hypocrisy of a superficial culture in denial.
Posted by Bob, Wednesday, October 29, 2008, 9:40 pm I must disagree, Davis, with your sweeping statement concerning "punk". Alright, getting noticed is hard to argue with, but more than a few punk/post-punk bands were almost wholly motivated by the plethora of uninspired, endless guitar solo mainstream major labor arena rock, and, more importantly, the society at large that listened to such generally mindless drivel while ignoring important socio-political issues.
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