I follow the auction scene pretty close, due to my unhealthy relationship with how the rich live. So I didn’t bat an eye when I saw a Dodo bird skeleton sell for $700k. Or million dollar watches sold by the lot. But a dirty paper plate. This was a first.
Story goes that Kurt Cobain was eating a slice of pizza of the plate back in 1990 when he flipped it over to jot down a set list.
The plate — along with a typed letter of authenticity — was sold last week through Julien’s Auctions’ “Music Icons” auction for a whopping $22,400. The auction house had previously estimated the plate would sell between $1,000 and $2,000.
According to the letter of authenticity, Cobain ate off the plate before a show on April 23, 1990, at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC. Johnny Riggs of the band THUD — which he said opened for Nirvana that night — took the plate after their performances.