By Tim Saunders on
It was a sight not often seen in an auction room – heavy metal fans battling a bidding duel with art lovers. But this is exactly what was witnessed when Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon auctioned off belongings from their former Beverly Hills mansion over the weekend of November 30 and December 1. Over 600 lots went under the hammer, raising a colossal $800,000 for charity – twice the amount expected.
“We had Ozzy fans bidding against these sophisticated fine art buyers, which you don’t see every day,” said Darren Julien of Julien’s Auctions. “For the most part, the metalheads were outbidding the art crowd.”
Most of the items up for grabs were an eclectic mix of memorabilia from “The Osbournes”, the hit MTV reality show that revealed the bizarre home life of the Rock ‘n’ Roll family. A coat embroidered with bats was snapped up for $3,300, and a pair of sneakers adorned with skulls was sold for over $2,000. One lucky bidder paid over $5,000 for Ozzy’s trademark round glasses.
Some of the more unusual items sold during the auction (as if those listed above were not unusual enough) included an oversized coffee cup that sold for $1,625, and a luxury dog bed given to Sharon by Elton John that went for $2,375.
Ozzy, who is not really known as a softy, thought twice about putting his pool table up for auction, because he cherished the memories of playing with his children as they grew up. But it eventually walked out the door for $11,250.
The fine art lovers, however, did not go home disappointed. A sculpture by French artist Edouard Drouot was sold for $10,500, and a painting by Gabriel Joseph Marie Augustin Ferrier disappeared for over $5,000.
The proceeds from the auction went to the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, a facility Sharon set up in 2004 after beating the disease. She had been given a 33% chance of survival.
“For a celebrity garage sale, it was pretty spectacular,” said Julien.
Copyright © 2007 Look to the Stars
