David Bowie's handwritten Jean Genie lyrics fetch £46k at auction

8 February 2023, 14:11 | Updated: 15 February 2023, 23:17

The A4 sheet of handwritten lyrics have gone under the hammer at a rock memorabilia auction this week.

David Bowie's handwritten lyrics to Jean Genie have fetched £46,000 at auction.

The icon had originally given the lyric sheet for the 1972 hit to David Bowie fan club founder Neal Peters. The A4 sheet featuring 18 lines of the song is signed and dated by the musician.

The lyrics went under the hammer at Omega Auctions in Newton-Le-Willows, Merseyside yesterday (7th February).

Auctioneer Paul Fairweather said: "We're well pleased with the price achieved for this historic set of lyrics."

David Bowie – The Jean Genie (Official Video)

He added: “We had almost unprecedented interest from around the world for this historic piece of memorabilia. We had five telephone lines in operation for the sale as well as bidders online and in the room.

"We’re very pleased with the incredible price achieved and are sure the lyrics will be rightly prized and treasured by the winning bidder."

The latest Bowie lyric sale comes after handwritten Starman lyrics sold for in excess of £200,000.

The sheet had all the corrections and edits made by the star himself and went under the hammer in Australia breaking the original estimate of £40,000 to sell for a whopping £203,500 - with the winning bidder named as Olivier Varenne, director of acquisitions and alliances and collections at the Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) in Tasmania.