Another trove
of one-of-a-kind Prince mementos and personal items is on the auction block,
and this time some of the offerings truly are personal.
Boston-based memorabilia seller RR Auction -- which
hosted a big sell-off back in February with former Paisley Park
staffers – is now marketing an even larger bundle of goods, including some truly unique
items belonging to Susannah Melvoin, Prince’s girlfriend in the mid-‘80s and
the sister of his Revolution guitarist Wendy Melvoin.
Susannah's offerings are featured alongside other
newly available artifacts from Prince’s longtime horn player Eric Leeds,
assistant tour manager Gwen Leeds (Eric’s sister-in-law), costume designer
Helen Hiatt and several other ex-employees of Paisley and/or PRN Productions.
Maybe the most coveted piece in the 200-plus-item roundup will be Prince’s laminated backstage passfrom his first big
tour opening for Rick James in 1980, a photo of which has already been all over
social media (current bid: $1,500).
The most talked-about items, however, could be
Melvoin’s. Also known from the “Nothing Compares 2 U”-singing Prince
side-project the Family (with Eric Leeds) and as the co-writer of “Starfish and
Coffee,” she offered up 27 items to RR Auction. They include Prince’s
handwritten script notesfor the movie “Under the Cherry
Moon” (now at $4,875), leggings he wore during his early stage
outings in 1979 ($888) and a series of one-word postcards that purportedly precluded
his marriage proposal to Melvoin ($330).
In a Soundcloud recording posted alongside her items on RR Auction’s site, Melvoin singles out
those nuptial-hinting postcards as the kind of thing that was
authentically Prince. They were apparently sent by a Bachman’s florist to
Melvoin, who misspelled her name as "Miss Malvoin" and wrote
individually on the cards, "Please," "No,"
"Guess?" and "Yes."
“I knew, no
matter if it was his writing, this was him,” she says. “This came directly from
him. I knew that nobody could think that way.”
Also in the podcast, Melvoin preemptively strikes
down possible criticism over her decision to sell off these items, saying
that her personal memories of Prince and his music are what mean the most to
her. She might also get a sympathetic break from Prince diehards after the
celebrity tabloids reported a few years ago that her
ex-husband, Texas blues-rocker Doyle Bramhall II, was allegedly behind on
paying child support to her (celeb gossip because Bramhall was dating actress
Renee Zellweger at the time).
“It’s OK for
me to put those in the hands of collectors, and people would say their lives
become fuller,” Melvoin told RR Auction. “It puts branches on their tree of
life. It’s now a part of their lives. I’m happy to share that. If I had more
[to share], I would.”
There’s plenty more to choose from besides her
contributions in the auction, which wraps up Sept. 27. See the whole shebang at RRauction.com. Other highlights include:
*Nine pages of
Prince's handwritten musical enhancements notes for the film “Purple Rain.”
*Prince's
bright yellow custom-made high-heeled shoes from the “Sign o’ the Times” tour
(seen below).
*Prince’s
'Mountains’ handwritten chorus music sheet lyrics.
*Another vinyl
pressing of the infamously shelved 1986 LP “Camille.”
*A 1986
cassette recording of Prince rehearsing.
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