There are some interesting items belonging to the late singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen going under the hammer at the end of February – including a locket which contains a piece of his hair inside…
Items once belonging to the late singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen will go under the hammer at the end of this month, in the “Leonard Cohen: The Collections of Aviva Layton, Anjani Thomas & More” auction.
Set to take place on 28 February in Los Angeles via Julien’s Auction, the lot is comprised of 164 items – including typed and handwritten lyrics, drawings (some more explicit than others), and one of the musician’s personal notebooks from 2007 which features 76 pages of notes, poems, and drafts of lyrics.
This notebook is expected to sell for between $10,000 – $15,000 (€9,785 – €14,600).
The majority of the items come from the collections of Cohen’s longtime friend Aviva Layton and romantic and creative partner Anjani Thomas.
Other pieces up for auction include Cohen’s Greek Fisherman’s “magic writing” cap which he would sport during his time spent in Greece back in the 60s.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Layton said: “Leonard was wearing his cap and Irving (Layton, her ex-husband) said, ‘I write poetry, but I’d like to write songs and make tons of money like you. And Leonard said, ‘I’ve got this cap, it’s a magic cap. I’ve written all my early songs wearing this cap. I’m going to give it to you and you’ll be able to write songs and make a lot of money too.’ Unfortunately, it only seemed to work for Leonard.”
The cap is estimated to go for between $4,000 – $6,000 (€3,900 – €5,800).
More surprisingly, there is also a tiny locket up for auction, one which contains a piece of Cohen’s hair inside.
The locket is estimated to sell for $400 – $600 (€390 – €590).
Speaking about the locket, Thomas said: “We were cutting his [Leonard’s] hair one day, and he had just given me this locket for my birthday, and I thought it was a traditional thing to put a snippet of hair in a locket. It’s a very olden-times custom.”
You can browse the items in the auction and register to bid here.
Additional sources • Rolling Stone
