A dirty, glittery sock that late pop superstar Michael Jackson wore during a concert in France in the 1990s fetched over $8,000 on Wednesday.
During his “HIStory World Tour” in 1997, the “King of Pop” donned white athletic socks embellished with sparkling rhinestones.
Organizers described the sock, which they called a “cult object,” as part of a sale featuring music memorabilia.
A technician discovered a discarded used sock near Jackson’s dressing room in Nimes, a southern city in France, after the concert in July 1997, as reported by auctioneer Aurore Illy to AFP.
Jackson can be seen wearing these socks in clips of his performance of the hit song “Billie Jean.”
Decades later, a picture posted on the website shows the off-white item of clothing covered in stains and its rhinestones yellowed with age.
The sock, initially valued at €3,000 to €4,000 ($3,400-4,500), fetched a staggering €7,688 ($8,822) at the Nimes auction house.
In 2009, a Macau gaming resort made a record-breaking bid of $350,000 for a glittery glove Jackson wore during his iconic “moonwalk” dance performance in 1983.
Just a few years later, in 2023, a hat Jackson wore just before that performance sold for an astonishing sum exceeding $80,000 at an auction in Paris.
Tragically, Jackson passed away from a fatal overdose in 2009 at the age of 50.
Despite enduring child molestation accusations during his lifetime and posthumously, Jackson’s legacy endures, and he continues to have a massive fan base.
These accusations, which he and his estate have consistently denied, have not diminished his enduring popularity.
