Style Icon: Meet the man bringing Prince's auction items to Ireland
A low-key corner of County Kildare is hosting an exhibition that’s likely to become the envy of culture lovers and music fans the world over.
Newbridge Silverware’s Museum of Style Icons is one of just two places in the world where an exhibition of several of Prince’s stage costumes and accessories, guitars, jewellery and songwriting notes can be viewed before going to auction in May. Every item tells a story over four incredible decades of one of popular culture’s most remarkable talents.
Fans will get to see the black two-piece worn by the star when he filmed ‘Under the Cherry Moon’ in 1986. There’s the electric blue turtleneck and pants he wore while rocking out with Lenny Kravitz at a concert in (appropriately) 1999. Or the characteristically flamboyant gold and black reptilian print shirt and trousers he wore on stage during his Jam of the Year and Newpower Soul tours. And yes, that really is the navy hat with gold chains draping over the face that the musician wore in his famously funky ‘My Name is Prince’ video.
But there are more personal items, too, their presence made all the more poignant by the star’s untimely death almost two years ago. There are handwritten words of an artist in his purest state of songwriting, including a draft of his song ‘Miss Understood’, and a ‘Love’ symbol pendant given to his wife, Mayte Garcia. They had a boy, Amir, who tragically died from complications of a rare syndrome just days following his birth.
For those who loved his music and lament his loss, or those who simply have an interest in the history of modern popular culture, this exhibition is a treasure. The story of how two Irishmen brought a sense of Minneapolis’s most famous son to Newbridge is also unique.
The exhibition is the latest collaboration between Martin Nolan of Julien’s auctions and William Doyle of Newbridge Silverware, who share a passion for the iconic and a can-do attitude.
“I read in the paper how an Irishman was bidding against Givenchy for an Audrey Hepburn dress and I thought: ‘Wow I need to contact him’,” recalls Martin of their first meeting several years ago.
It was a contact that led to friendship and fostered common interests, and their first exhibition of Marilyn Monroe outfits and collectibles in Newbridge was a huge success. They have worked together on many since, this latest being one of their most spectacular.
It’s been quite a journey from Kiltoom, near Athlone, to Hollywood for Nolan, who had a steady and secure job at Teagasc when fate came along and dealt him a hand.
“I won a Green Card in a lottery in 1989, a Donnelly Visa. I felt so lucky — there were 19 million applications from 36 countries for 10,000 visas. My name came out of the hat, and with odds like that, I knew I was lucky and I knew I had to go,” he says. “It’s funny how my life has changed so much.” On arriving in New York, he got a job as a doorman and later as head bellman at the Hilton Hotel, pressing palms with the likes of James Brown, Sylvester Stallone and Mohammad Ali.
But his background was in finance so he trained and worked as a stockbroker, before his career took another turn. He met top auctioneer Darren Julien, who was going solo, setting up his own business, and was interested in working with the Irishman. Just over a year after he established the now-famous auction house, Martin joined him.
“After the Hilton I went to work on Wall Street as a stockbroker and financial advisor. That’s how I met Darren Julien. Darren had just started the company.
“We became friends and by March 2005 we were doing the second estate auction for Marilyn Monroe, which was a very big deal.” Later, he would spend months on Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch, cataloguing the contents of the star’s home for one of the biggest celebrity sales.
In 2009, when an exhibition of Jackson items came to Newbridge for ten days, 5,000 people per day passed through its doors.
He has worked with some of the world’s biggest names, but you get a sense that he’s especially proud of bringing the Prince exhibition to Ireland. “Prince is a true icon and this is the first time this collection has been assembled since Prince wore these items, or played with these guitars, or wrote these lyrics.
“They’re on display here until May 10th, then we take it to the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square, New York City. We’ll have it on display for a week, and then we’re going to auction it off on May 18th at the Hard Rock Cafe. This is what as an auctioneer you want to work with — the top, iconic person, because it drives so much interest.
“How the whole auction came about was because, back in November as part of our Idols and Icons Rock ’n’ Roll auction which we have annually in Los Angeles, we sold a Prince guitar, a cloud guitar, teal coloured, for $700,000. That was a world record for a Prince guitar, before that the highest price was $130,000, it was bought by a museum.
“That piqued our interest, because Prince is very collectable. Museums want to buy his items. People want to see his items, they want to be up close. Sadly he’s no longer with us, so the next best thing is to own something from his life and career – keep his memory alive.
His music still lives on but there’s tons of unpublished music as well.
“In fact we have some lyrics here from songs that haven’t even been published yet – working lyrics with his notes crossed out and additions and changes made. That’s like the pure art form of the music he created; the very beginning, when you sit down with a piece of paper and a pencil to start writing, to create this magnificent music that we all came to love.”
Prince’s passion for creativity and design makes the collection perhaps even more special. “He was a showman and he was involved in the costumes he would wear. He worked with designers and if he liked the designer he repeatedly went back to them, such brilliantly unique items for any performer to wear.
“He always wore jewellery, every photograph you see of Prince he’s typically wearing jewellery. This is a massive auction for us, in fact there’s a total of over 150 lots — here we have about 50 of the top highlights.”
High-profile auctions are typically portrayed as very glamorous and dramatic.
“It’s lights, cameras and auction!” agrees Nolan. “Three weeks before the auction closes it’ll be available online. People can start bidding online and it comes right up to the actual auction date. There’ll be lots of interest media-wise. It’ll be a crowded room in the Hard Rock Cafe. It’ll be bustling. People bidding on the phone, people bidding in the room, and each lot will be sold individually and disperse all over the world.”
After decades working in the business, Nolan understands the power and draw of classic celebrity collectibles. But sometimes a sale price will surprise him.
“We have an idea, you know the iconic items, you know what the pre-auction interest is. If we have something really high-priced, let’s say when we were selling John Lennon’s guitar two years ago, we had an estimate of $600,000-$800,000. We were hoping it would sell for more than a million, which at the time had never happened. We had six billionaires on the phones, bidding against each other for the guitar, and it went on to sell for $2.4 million.
“The owner of the guitar was in the room, it was a life-changing event for him. He had the guitar for 47 years and never knew it was a John Lennon guitar. Half of the proceeds were to benefit the Spirit Foundation which was founded by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. A great story, and it was so amazing to be a part of the journey of that guitar, even for a short period of time.”
