Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Art Business

Abstract

This dissertation examines how celebrity memorabilia sales at auction influence buyer behavior, valuation trends, and market perception within the contemporary art market. This study investigates the ways in which auction houses strategically frame celebrity provenance to drive both emotional and financial value. Further, it explores the evolving definition of cultural capital in the auction world as popular culture sales rise in popularity. This study utilizes a mixed methods approach. On the qualitative side, it explores how different sales within the last ten years have been staged as cultural events, drawing from media discourse, marketing material, auction catalogues, and most importantly, interviews from professionals working on celebrity memorabilia sales within the auction market, cultural theorists, and prospective buyers. On the quantitative side, in an effort to measure the “icon premium,” it analyzes auction data from two case studies: Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own (Sotheby’s, 2023) and The Collection of Sir Elton John: Goodbye Peachtree Road (Christie’s, 2024).

The findings from this study reveal that nostalgia, storytelling, and the cultural capital attached to celebrity provenance elevate auctions into cultural events and mundane objects beyond their material value, generating an inflation in price. This study further identifies the ongoing Great Wealth Transfer as a catalyst for a generational shift in collecting practices, with younger buyers increasingly drawn to a more identity-based approach to collecting. Finally, this dissertation argues that celebrity memorabilia auctions are creating a structural shift in the traditional auction market, legitimizing popular culture departments and auction houses as profitable entities within the global art economy.

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