Historic Auction of Jimi Hendrix Memorabilia Announced

by Tom Watson

The Cooper Owen auction house of London has announced that as many as 20,000 items of Jimi Hendrix memorabilia will be auctioned by the firm in 2005, with approximately one fifth of the items going on display at the Marquee Club in central London on September 9, 2004.

The auction is set to include a 1965 Olympic White Stratocaster owned and played by Hendrix and a brown leather Cherokee Indian jacket worn by the guitarist.

Much of the Hendrix collection was assembled by Hendrix fan Bob Terry, who began collecting memorabilia at the age of 17. Terry later sold the items to another U.S. collector.

Hendrix performed at the original Marquee Club's location on Wardour Street, in Soho. The club closed in 1996. The rights to the name were bought and the new Marquee nightclub is located in Leicester Square.

The auction will also include as many as 300 hours of video footage of Hendrix, of which 60% has reportedly never been seen by the public.

According to Ted Owen, of Cooper Owen, the London Hendrix memorabilia exhibit, designed by Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood's son, Jamie, will be 10,000 times larger than a recent Hendrix exhibit in Paris.