Collector pays £104,000 at auction for spheres featured on cover of Fleetwood Mac album Rumours
That required balls! Collector pays £104,000 at auction for spheres featured on Fleetwood Mac album cover
- The balls were auctioned off at Beverly Hills-based Julien’s Auctions.
- Fleetwood stole balls, which feature the words ‘Open Sesame’, from the club’s bathroom
- Vintage dress worn by McVie on the back cover of Rumors sold for over £46,000
The wooden balls dangling between Mick Fleetwood’s legs on the cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors album have sold for £104,000 at auction.
The props were auctioned off at Beverly Hills-based Julien’s Auctions over the weekend, along with personal items belonging to band members John and Christine McVie. Miss McVie died last week at the age of 79.
Fleetwood, 75, said he stole the balls, which have the words ‘Open Sesame’ embroidered in gold thread, from a club bathroom.
A vintage dress worn by Miss McVie on the back cover of Rumors, one of the best-selling albums of all time, sold for just over £46,000.
Fleetwood, 75, said he stole the balls, which have the words ‘Open Sesame’ embroidered in gold thread, from a club bathroom.
On the album cover, Fleetwood is depicted with his balls around his waist while holding hands with singer Stevie Knicks.
Speaking to Maui Time in 2009, he said, “I went out and I have to admit I had a couple of glasses of English ale and walked out of the bathroom with these.”
I ripped them off the toilet and had them hanging between my legs.
He continued: ‘In truth, I started out as a blues player. The whole ethic of a lot of blues music is a bit suggestive, you might say.
“And conveniently, I went out on stage with these two bathroom chains with these wooden balls dangling, and after that it just kind of got stuck.”
Other items in the auction included McVie’s Leslie speaker and swivel microphones, which sold for £30,000 ($37,000), 37 times the asking price of £820 ($1,000).
A Julien’s Auction spokesperson said: “An emotional moment of the auction was the sale of the collection of Christine McVie, who passed away three days before the event took place.
‘The auction and catalog of her most personal and professional items organized by Ms. McVie and her team with Julien’s a year ago represented Songbird’s life of great performances, recordings and songs as a member of one of the best-selling groups of all the times. , Fleetwood Mac, and as a legendary solo artist.’