Kurt Cobain's Iconic Sweater From "Unplugged" Performance Hits Auction

BYCole Blake2.4K Views
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Kurt Cobain

It's an investment.

The iconic cardigan worn by Kurt Cobain during Nirvana’s legendary MTV Unplugged performance is headed to auction, and it still hasn’t been washed. 

“It’s very important that we don’t wash it,” Darren Julien of Julien’s Auctions told Rolling Stone. “The stains are still there. There’s even cigarette burns that you can see on the sweater.”

The sweater last sold in November 2015 for $137,500 to an anonymous buyer. It is now being sold for a minimum bid of $200,000; however, it’s estimated that the bid could reach as high as $300,000 before it’s sold. For reference, in 2015, the minimum bid was $60,000.

“Rock & roll memorabilia has become an investment,” Julien said. “It’s not just a collector’s market — it’s an investor’s market. The person that bought the sweater in 2015 bought it as an investment. Now, because we’ve been getting record prices for Kurt Cobain, people are starting to sell it. We anticipate that it will sell for more than double. I call it the new fine art market. People are investing more and more in pop culture, especially rock & roll. It’s a way to diversify their portfolios.”

The auction will be held on October 25th and 26th at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City and online.


About The Author
Cole Blake is currently an Editor at HotNewHipHop based out of Brooklyn, New York. He began working at the site as an intern back in 2018 while studying journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s graduated with a bachelor's degree and written extensively about a wide range of topics including pop culture, film & television, politics, video games, sports, and much more. He’s also covered music festivals such as Gov. Ball and Rolling Loud. You can find him publishing work for HNHH from Monday to Wednesday or on weekends. On the sports front, Cole’s a passionate NBA and NFL fan with his favorite teams being the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Lakers. He also roots for the Yankees whenever he finds himself at Yankee Stadium or the Red Storm when in the company of other SJU alumni. His favorite hip-hop artists are billy woods, Earl Sweatshirt, Cam’ron, MIKE, and Mach-Hommy.