Notorious BIG crown fetches $600,000 at Sotheby's first hip-hop auction

The crown worn by Notorious BIG, when photographed as the King of New York, is displayed during a press preview at Sotheby's first hip-hop auction on September 10, 2020 in New York City. AFP

Sotheby's specialist Cassandra Hatton holds the plastic crown worn and signed by the Notorious BIG. Photographer Barron Claiborne provided the crown prop to portray Biggie Smalls as the king of New York during a 1997 photo shoot for the cover of 'Rap Pages' magazine, held three days before the rapper was killed. AP photo

Autographed love letters written by Tupac Shakur at the age of 16 to a high school sweetheart are on display at Sotheby's in New York. Shakur wrote the letters in 1987 and 1988 to Kathy Loy, a fellow student at the Baltimore School for the Arts. AP photo

An archive of 22 love letters from Tupac Shakur to a high school sweetheart is displayed. AFP

Fab 5 Freddy's gold and diamond 'MTV' ring is displayed during a press preview at Sotheby's for their Hip-Hop auction. AFP

Jackets are displayed during a press preview at Sotheby's for their hip-hop auction. AFP

A woman holds Fab 5 Freddy's MTV ring at Sotheby's auction house in New York, Monday, Sept. 14, 2020. AP photo

An employee walks past The Wall of Boom by DJ Ross One, an art installation featuring 32 vintage boomboxes as a working sound system displayed during a press preview at Sotheby's for their hip-hop auction. AFP

Salt-N-Pepa's personal 'Push It' jackets worn in the 2015 Geico Super Bowl Commercial are displayed during a press preview at Sotheby's. AFP

Daniel Arsham x Hajime Sorayama 1000% BE@RBRICK (2G) sculpture is displayed during a press preview. AFP

A police shield by artist LA2/LAROC (Angel Ortiz) is displayed during a press preview at Sotheby's Hip-Hop acution. AFP

A logo sculpture by Phase 2 is displayed during a press preview at Sotheby's hip-hop auction. AFP

The plastic gold-coloured crown that American rapper Notorious BIG wore on the last photo shoot before his death fetched $600,000 (Dh2.2m) at the first hip-hop auction held by an international house, Sotheby's said on Wednesday.

The auction was a celebration of the history and cultural impact hip-hop has had on art and culture from the late 1970s through mid-1990s, and up to the present, Sotheby's said.

After highlighting sneakers and handbags in recent years, Sotheby's in New York dedicated its September auction to hip-hop culture, featuring some 120 lots that included boomboxes, photos of Snoop Dogg and Louis Vuitton luggage.

The auction house has said it was the first auction staged by an international house anywhere devoted entirely to hip-hop.

The signed crown, which was just a plastic prop from a party shop, worn by the rapper in the 1997 King of New York photograph was offered on sale for the first time, and was expected to fetch $200,000 to $300,000 at the September 15 auction, Sotheby's had said earlier.

The New York rapper, also known as Biggie Smalls, was shot dead in Los Angeles at the age of 24 on March 9, 1997, three days after the photo shoot. His death was part of a feud between east and west coast rappers that also took the life of Tupac Shakur, 25, in 1996. Both crimes remain unsolved.

In the auction, a series of 22 love letters written by a 16-year-old Shakur to his high school sweetheart Kathy Loy between 1987 to 1988, were sold for $75,600.

The sale comprised of unique artefacts, contemporary art, photography, vintage and modern fashion, historic and newly designed jewellery and luxury items, rare ephemera including flyers and posters.

This follows the 270-year-old auction house's recent forays into collectible sneakers, space memorabilia, pop music lyrics and designer handbags.