Photo courtesy of Christie’s

The auctioneer at Christie’s smirked when he announced Monday’s lot 37, a shirt designed by Vivienne Westwood and Sex Pistols mastermind Malcom McLaren. “Fuck Your Mother!” he said, reading the shirt’s inscription. “That’s the first time I’ve ever said that up here.” It wasn’t the last — he repeated it three more times for good measure. The New York auction strayed from the usual Christie’s fare, as items from Nirvana, Metallica, the Ramones and the Beatles were put up for bidding and netted a total of nearly $750,000. Of 350-plus available lots, a few of the more high-end items failed to meet their reserve price and remained unsold, including the original album art for the Beastie Boys‘ Licensed to Ill (bidding stalled at $19,000) and Kurt Cobain’s childhood bass, which petered out at a measly $42,000. Check out a few of the day’s more notable sales below.

• Cover artwork for Metallica’s Master of Puppets: $35,000

• Ring worn by Elvis Presley during one of his final tours: $32,500

• Louis Armstrong trumpet: $27,500

• Original session tapes from Jimi Hendrix‘ Electric Ladyland sessions: $47,500

• Proof of smallpox vaccination certificate for Paul McCartney: $5,000

• Postcard written by Elvis: $7,250 (which comes out to around $426 per each word written in Elvis’ hand)

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