At Auction: Christie’s Sells a Trove of Elton John’s Treasures

Singer Elton John has always been an obsessive collector of everything from sleek Bentleys to Versace shirts. So when the superstar decided to sell 900 pieces from his former Atlanta home, Christie’s in New York City held a February auction extravaganza, offering glitzy preview nights and eight separate auctions, both live and online. Bidders from 60 countries snapped up art, fine jewelry, even custom-made platform boots in the star-studded sales, which brought in $20.5 million, more than double the early estimates.

Amid all the hoopla, there was one category of items that quietly captured the attention of astute buyers around the globe: photography. Somewhere along the line, Elton John has become a connoisseur — so much so that he has assembled one of the world’s largest private collections, totaling some 7,000 images. “When Elton John bought his Atlanta residence in the 1990s, it was a period of much change and transition for him,” Elizabeth Seigel, head of Christie’s Private and Iconic Collections, New York, exclusively tells us. “He had just gotten sober and seeing the world through clean-and-sober eyes gave him new perspectives on ways of approaching and seeing different mediums and art forms.”

At Auction: Christie’s Sells a Trove of Elton John’s Treasures