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Perhaps the Most Ever Paid for Love Letters

The Rolling Stones have been talked about a lot lately. I recently posted on this site about the Top 10 list he did on David Letterman (of course, our favorite line was: “Every 10^th autograph I sign ‘Doris Goldblatt’.”

On the 12^th, The Stones were part of the 12-12-12 concert for victims of Hurricane Sandy.

Now, the story that blows me away is the fact that love letters a young Mick Jagger wrote sold for $301,472 in a Sotheby’s auction. This must be one hardcore Stones fan, because….handwritten lyrics by Keith Richards/Mick Jagger, would sell for less than that. A guitar signed by the entire band (including the late Brian Jones), would sell for less than that. And believe me, a complete set of band signatures with Jones is huge.

The love letters Jagger wrote went to a private collector on the phone. There were 10 letters that went to singer Marsha Hunt. Now, if they were written to Marianne Faithful, or somebody we’ve heard of – even Helen Hunt – I could see the interest.

She was an American singer who was the inspiration for the Stones’ 1971 hit Brown Sugar, and she also had jagger’s first child.

The subject of the letters are rather interesting. They talked about the moon landing (they were all written in 1969), and another talked about Yoko and John Lennon – also making the news around that time for getting married and staying in bed for days on end.

Jagger wrote these from the set of the movie Ned Kelly, which was being filmed in Australia.

It’s interesting that the bidder over paid for these items. They’ll never again sell for that kind of money, unless one of those letters does contain some of the lines that became the actual song Brown Sugar.

One thing I’ve wondered about is this. Letters from famous people occasionally crop up at auctions. I remember reading about one Paul McCartney wrote to his first love Jane Asher. Well, these collectables will be a thing of the past. You see, if a young musician now has a woman he’s courting – I’m guessing he’ll send emails and text messages. Those don’t contain autographs, or handwriting, of the star we idolize.

Tags: Brown Sugar, Jane Asher, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Marianne Faithful, Marsha Hunt, Mick Jagger, Ned Kelly, Paul McCartney, Rolling Stones

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Comment by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 13, 2012 at 7:19pm: Two long, handwritten letters from James Dean to his girlfriend sold for $25-$30,000 at Christie's UK last year. They sound like a much better deal.

Comment by Josh Board on December 13, 2012 at 9:58pm: It's a way better deal for a few reasons. Obviously, Jagger is alive and well, and still signing autographs (although he's often a reluctant signer). Dean died in the 50s, and hadn't signed many. Not to mention -- Dean is a lot more collectable than Jagger. I've seen drawings Dean has done in auctions, as well as homework from his high school. I have no clue how that is even acquired. Did some teacher keep it? I have seen Buddy Holly homework in an auction R&R had years ago, too. All of them nicer than a womanizing frontman for a rock band trying to woo a woman!

Comment by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 13, 2012 at 10:53pm: You hit the nail on the head.

Comment by Lex on December 15, 2012 at 6:08am: Mick hasnt signed 10 autos at a time in 15+ years!!!!!

Comment by Xwiesy on December 15, 2012 at 6:16am: He has, you just have to drop $1200 plus on their website lol....

Comment by Lex on December 15, 2012 at 6:54am: I meant in person...

Comment by Chad B on December 17, 2012 at 7:10am: The thing about an auction is someone was willing to pay one bid under the $301,472 to get it this high. I would think they paid about $270,000.00 too much. This one does not make sense to me unless Mick bought them himself to get them off the market (which I highly doubt).