A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Today is the day you could snap up a little piece of Whitney Houston's world.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'M YOUR BABY TONIGHT")
WHITNEY HOUSTON: (Singing) Whatever you want from me, I'm giving you everything. I'm your baby tonight.
MARTÍNEZ: Houston died in 2012. Today, her estate is selling dozens of personal items once owned by the pop diva. The auction is being handled by Julien's Auctions, which is known for selling the stuff of the rich and famous. Darren Julien is the auction house's executive director.
DARREN JULIEN: It's not a big auction, but it's big enough that it's got the attention of Whitney Houston fans. Some really incredible items - costumes, shoes, jewelry.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. There's one that I am looking at right now - is the 1994 personalized FIFA World Cup event-worn jersey. I remember that jersey when she was wearing it. It has No. 1 on the back with her name, Whitney, on the top. So tell us about some of the pieces in that auction, because I'm eyeballing this one, but I don't know if I have the scratch to bid on that one.
JULIEN: Well, that one we estimate $1,000 to $2,000. It's already up to $2,000, but we also have items that she wore on the Bodyguard Tour in 1994. We have a great stage-worn outfit, $3,000 to $5,000. So everything's reasonably priced. But knowing Whitney Houston and her collectibility, some of the items will go $10,000, $15,000, maybe $20,000.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. There's even a slot machine, a Whitney Houston novelty slot machine that looked kind of interesting, too.
JULIEN: Yeah. This is a slot machine that she personally owned. It's worth around $600, $800, but it's already up to $3,000 because of the Whitney Houston factor.
MARTÍNEZ: Is that one of the things that's changed about celebrity auctions, in that it doesn't have to be something that someone wears, that someone remembers someone wearing or seeing in - them in it, as much as it could be something from their homes or something that they hold personal?
JULIEN: Yeah. I mean, when we did Cher's auction, this was in 2007, 2008. And I remember at the time, I was trying to talk Cher into doing an auction. She said, well, I'm not dead.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter) Oh, jeez.
JULIEN: And I had explained that, you know, a lot of the career items that you see from some of these celebrities - they're selling for sometimes six, seven figures, and so they'd really become not obtainable by the fans. So by allowing the personal artifacts to come in and be a part of these auctions, it allows the fans to participate. You know, if she owns an item that was in her house, on her desk or by her bedside, they'd be garage sales if they were you or me. But it really gets the fans excited.
MARTÍNEZ: So, you know, I was a teenager in the '80s, so I remember auctions of sports memorabilia. Like, athletes from the past would sell, like, a signed jersey or a signed baseball or signed spike, something like that. Has celebrity, like musicians and actors - has that kind of auction material been on par with sports stuff, or is that just something more recent?
JULIEN: No, it's just more recent. You know, we have really specialized in the music arena. And, you know, now we sell guitars in the millions of dollars, not just thousands of dollars. And what's really increased this market is hedge funds and people looking to invest. And I feel like music memorabilia in the years to come will far surpass even sports memorabilia.
MARTÍNEZ: What have you found motivates the buyers to buy these things? I mean, you were talking about, you know, a few thousand dollars, sometimes even higher in most cases. So what do you think motivates most of these buyers?
JULIEN: You know, these artifacts represent a memory of somebody - a place in time where they went to a concert or they saw somebody for the first time live in a performance, and it was a good part of their lives. And the nostalgia really attracts people. Museums now have really started to buy because they realize that people aren't going to just come into museums to look at a Monet anymore. They want to see...
MARTÍNEZ: No.
JULIEN: ...You know, John Lennon's guitar or Lady Gaga's outfit - something that's on display that attracts a younger demographic and crowd.
MARTÍNEZ: So it sounds like a lot of your job is forecasting - like, seeing down the line what might be worth something from any particular person. Do you ever think about things in the moment? So, like, say, for example, someone came up to you and said, hey, I've got the jeans that Sydney Sweeney wore in those jeans ads that are causing all the controversy. Would that be something you'd be interested in in the moment?
JULIEN: Definitely, that's something that we'd want to sell. And you'd want to put together a quick marketing plan, make sure you capture the people that would be interested in that, because sometimes these moments can be fleeting. You know, we've sold a - recently sold a pair of Kurt Cobain's jeans. You know, we estimated...
MARTÍNEZ: Wow.
JULIEN: ...Them $10,000 to $20,000, but they sold for $450,000. It's just really hard to tell, and it's really hard to predict. And we let the market determine what the true value is.
MARTÍNEZ: Do you have any dream item that you would love to get your hands on and put up for auction, or maybe from any particular celebrity that you'd love to see what they have stored somewhere?
JULIEN: Oh, I have a huge list. You know, like, one of the people that I really want to work with someday is Dolly Parton. And...
MARTÍNEZ: Oh, wow. Yeah.
JULIEN: ...You know, she's somebody - like Johnny Cash. We did Johnny Cash's auction, and he's somebody that transcended country music as well as pop culture. And Dolly Parton is one of those same people. She donated a dress for us to sell for MusiCares, and we estimated it $2,000 to $4,000. It sold for almost $30,000.
MARTÍNEZ: And when it comes to the auctions, is it like the way we've seen it on television or on - in the movies, where someone is on a podium, speaking really fast and looking at people, and people raise their hands?
JULIEN: Yeah, you do still have that element. Now, it used to be that we'd have 200 to 300 people in the room, but because of the technology, there'll be thousands of people all over the world participating in an auction. But it's still entertainment. We still have the live auctioneer that knows what they're doing, that engages the crowd. So all that still applies.
MARTÍNEZ: And how likely is it that when someone puts in a bid and wins the bid, that they actually use the thing they got? So, for example - so Whitney Houston, 1999 Dolce & Gabbana pumps. Could someone, if they actually fit the shoes, wear them? I mean, would someone actually do that, you think?
JULIEN: They do, actually.
MARTÍNEZ: Oh, wow.
JULIEN: And in some cases, it becomes - you know, especially jewelry. It becomes a bragging right because you're wearing...
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
JULIEN: ...Something that a famous person wore. Most famous - Kim Kardashian wore Marilyn Monroe's dress when she sang...
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. That's right.
JULIEN: ...Happy Birthday, JFK. That was a dress that we had sold for $4.8 million to Ripley's, and Kim Kardashian wore it. And, you know - and back to Cher. One day, she asked me - she said, what would make my items worth more money? And I said, well, die. You know...
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter) Oh, jeez (laughter).
JULIEN: ...'Cause death does make somebody worth - even more collectible.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
JULIEN: But this market now - you can still be alive, a living celebrity, and you can see your items sell for record prices.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Darren Julien of Julien's Auctions. Darren, thanks.
JULIEN: Thank you very much.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHOPPIN'")
CHER: Hit it, boys.
(Vocalizing). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
