British punk legend Johnny Rotten’s famous “Anarchy” shirt sold at auction for 4,000 pounds ($5,860) Thursday.
Rotten wore the stained and ripped shirt bearing the slogans “No Future” and “Antichrist, anarchy” on stage during the Sex Pistols’ infamous 1970s shows.
It was sold to an unnamed telephone bidder at a west London sale held to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the “Punk Special” concerts that helped launch the alternative music scene.
“I had good feedback from the Sex Pistols-related pieces, but the results were much better than I expected,” said Stephen Maycock of British auction house Sothebys.
Johnny Rotten’s shirt was among a rare collection of punk memorabilia which raised 27,777 pounds for its owner Helen Wellington-Lloyd, a friend of the Sex Pistols.
Wellington-Lloyd lived with Malcolm McLaren, the Sex Pistols’ manager and starred as Helen of Troy in the punk band’s cult film “The Great Rock n’ Roll Swindle.”
Her collection included a pair of knickers from British designer Viviennee Westwood’s shop “Let it Rock,” which fetched 1,175 pounds at the auction.
A concert poster for a gig at London’s 100 Club on August 10, 1976 made 3,055, more than twice the pre-sale estimate.
An unnamed punk fan from central England paid 2,280 for a copy of the Sex Pistols’ controversial republican song “God Save the Queen.”
The fan described his purchase as “the Holy Grail of all punk singles.”
The rock and roll sale also featured classic Beatles items. A hotel registration form filled out by the Fab Four during a trip to Stockholm, Sweden in October 1963 fetched nearly 10,000 pounds.
The Hard Rock Cafe chain bought unpublished Beatles photographs from 1964 for 5,875 pounds.
