NEW YORK (AP) -- An auction at Christie's of rock 'n' roll
memorabilia from some of the hottest bands of the 1960s and '70s hauled in big
bucks Friday, including $20,000 for a Jimi Hendrix album and more than $4,000
for a Rolling Stones' T-shirt.
A copy of Hendrix's ''Axis: Bold as Love'' album from 1968 -- inscribed ''Thanks
for everything'' and accompanied by three color photos of the rock star -- sold
for double its pre-sale estimate of $10,000. Three cardboard posters for Hendrix
concerts in 1968 and 1969 fetched $10,625, $16,250 and $18,750.
The limited edition, long-sleeved sweater designed to promote the Stones' 1973
''Goat's Head Soup'' album sold for $4,750. Only about a dozen of them were
produced.
Of the T-shirts, a Yardbirds shirt worn by rock journalist Greg Shaw to the 1967
Monterey Pop Festival brought $3,000 while a maroon Led Zeppelin 1973 shirt
fetched $1,625.
A short-sleeved white shirt with green sleeves with the words ''War is over! If
you want it'' from the John Lennon song ''Happy Xmas (War Is Over),'' sold for
$1,875, just below its $2,000 estimate.
The auction house said all the T-shirts were bought by U.S. private collectors
except for the John Lennon one, which was acquired by an institution it wouldn't
name.
Jimi Hendrix, the American pop singer and
guitarist, died in London yesterday. He had been taken by ambulance from a flat
in a private hotel in Notting Hill but was dead on arrival at St Mary Abbot's
Hospital, Kensington.
The cause of death was most probably an
overdose of drugs, said Scotland Yard, but a post mortem examination would be
carried out today. The hospital said it did not know how Mr Hendrix had died.
Mr Hendrix, who was 24 years old, stayed in Britain after the Isle of Wight
music festival, where he shared the top of the bill. He recently returned from a
European tour which was cut short because of the illness of another member of
the group.
He had been staying at the Cumberland Hotel in the West End and on Thursday
asked to extend his stay to include that night, but a spokesman for the hotel
said he was last seen there on Wednesday night, when he ordered a meal to be
sent to his £17-a-day suite.
The flat where he was found was at the Hotel Samarkand and was booked in the
name of Miss Marika Dannenman, a West German girl who spent most of yesterday
afternoon in hospital. Last night she was back at the flat, but under sedation.
Mr Danny Hall, the manager of the hotel, said he did not know Mr Hendrix and the
first he had known of his death was when police called and took a number of
blankets which they had told him were for analysis. At the flat a coroner's
officer took possession of some sleeping tablets.
Miss Dannenman made her six-week booking through an agent in West Germany, he
said, and she had arrived there some time in August.
Mr Hendrix first appeared on the British pop scene in 1967 with a record called
"Hey Joe." Mr Les Perrin, his agent, said: "On stage he was a very warm man with
a great sense of humour. He was a world-class talent. It's a great loss for the
pop business."
With his group "Experience," Mr Hendrix had a new single scheduled for release
in about three weeks. Mitch Mitchell, his drummer, said he had been talking to
Hendrix about the release of a new album and about another European tour.
Mr Hendrix was the grandson of a Cherokee Indian but part Negro as well. Apart
from his flamboyant clothes he was distinguished by his long frizzy hair. In
December last year he was acquitted at a Toronto court of possessing heroin and
cannabis at the airport.
