From a £10,000 guitar to a pair of orange boxer shorts at £120, pieces put into the November 10 auction at Stowmarket by Ed Sheeran generated the sort of fervour the singer-songwriter creates across the world.
Fans of the world’s top-selling musician took 320 personal possessions he consigned to the sale to raise money for charity. His bedroom waste bin (£40), a Hohner Cross Harp harmonica (£400) and a 3ft 2in x 3ft 8in (96cm x 1.12m) signed photo (£2000) all contributed to the total of £53,000 for the counselling charity Zest and Ipswich’s St Elizabeth Hospice in Suffolk – Sheeran’s home county.
The top-selling guitar was Sheeran’s custom-made instrument, which was estimated at £2000-3000. It was marked to the neck block Martin & Co Est 1833 Prototype.
For Sheeran’s fans, what mattered was that, like all the lots, it came with his signed certificate of authenticity.
Star lot
A less recent musical lot also impressed to sell for £4700 against an estimate of £1500-2000: a David Bowie record, The Starman, an 8in Trident Studio Acetate recorded on February 4, 1972.
The song was a late addition to the LP, The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, replacing Round And Round, a Chuck Berry cover version.
