(Reuters) – Guitarist Ronnie Wood and ex-wife Jo Wood are auctioning off their shared collection of art and Rolling Stones memorabilia after their 24-year marriage ended in divorce.
Auctioneer Darren Julien pegged the collection’s initial value at $300,000 to $500,000 and said the sale, to be held at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills on October 27, marked the first time a member of the Stones had held an auction of this kind. “We expect it to do very well,” he said.
The rocker, 65, and Jo, 57, a former-model, separated in 2008 after his widely reported relationship with a young cocktail waitress named Ekaterina Ivanova. Their divorce was finalized in February 2011. The sale takes place ahead of the release next February of Jo Wood’s memoirs that reveal her tales of life as the wife of a Rolling Stone.
“They are still very good friends and they just decided it was time to simplify and sell some of their property,” Julien told Reuters.
Part of the proceeds will go to MusiCares, the Grammys charity that offers recovery to people in the music industry, the auction company said in a statement.
The collection features memorabilia spanning four decades from the guitarist’s work with the Rolling Stones and his earlier association with the band Faces, as well as his solo career.
Items include tour clothing, backstage passes and ephemera from various Rolling Stones tours, such as worn leather jackets and custom painted Fender Stratocasters, one depicting a Rolling Stones recording session, valued at $4,000 to $8,000, Julien’s said in a statement.
Portraits of Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, and Bob Dylan, valued at $800 to $1,200 each, are also among the artwork offered by Wood, a celebrated visual artist and painter, it said.
Wood has recently been focusing on his visual art career and in April opened a New York City art show entitled, “Faces, Time and Places,” featuring portraits of Mick Jagger, Richards, Charlie Watts and other celebrities.
But he is still mostly known for his music and in April was inducted for a second time into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with other members of Faces, including Rod Stewart and Kenney Jones.
The Rolling Stones, which Wood joined in 1975 after Mick Taylor left the band, were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989 and this year are celebrating their 50th anniversary.
The Woods will also sell antiques, furniture and art from the Surrey, England countryside estate shared by the couple, including an Erard harp, pegged at $4,000 to $5,000, and a bronze jockey statue by Dame Elisabeth Frink valued at $65,000 to $85,000, Julien’s said on Tuesday.
(Reporting By Susan Zeidler, editing by Christine Kearney and Claudia Parsons)
